Connection
by KaiserNight
Summary: AU, reboot. One can gain an unimaginable amount of power on their own. However, when a bond forms, they gain an infinite amount of power that was created to protect those close to them. These connections form an identity that can either make the weakest human to ever live, or a weak human who has all the strength in the world to protect all that he loves. (rating may change)
1. Chapter 1: Link Start

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Sword Art Online series; all credit goes to Reki Kawahara for writing the light novel and A-1 Pictures for creating the anime. The only thing I take credit for is any OCs I might include in this story._

**Chapter 1: Link Start**

**Quick Note: This is my first attempt at an SAO fan fic, so I apologize if anyone is OOC. I'm still kind of not familiar with SAO as I would like, but this was a spur of the moment kind thing, so I had to do this story. Sorry if this sorta seems like a carbon copy of episode 1, but have to establish stuff you know. Hope you enjoy! Oh yeah, this is an AU reboot, so I'm changing some things around.**

* * *

_September 16, 2022_

"Link Start!"

The world faded to black for a split for a second as Kirigaya Kazuto's mind began its transfer into the virtual world known as Aincrad. As quickly as it turned black, the world began to flash a wide variety of colorful rays of light as various blue screens appeared before the boy's mind. Characters for the username and password were entered in the bars that were required to be completed to log in as the language window appeared before Kazuto. Being from Kawagoe City in the Saitama prefecture, the choice was obvious for the boy to pick Japanese as his default language. After the final window disappeared, Kazuto's subconscious was transferred to the location he had to put the Nerve Gear on in order to reach, Sword Art Online's server.

* * *

Kirigaya Kazuto was no longer the Kirigaya Kazuto of Kawagoe; he wasn't even the Kirigaya Kazuto of the real world anymore. He was now Kirito, one of the lucky ten thousand people who got the first shipping of Sword Art Online, as well as being a player of SAO that was lucky enough to be one of the thousand chosen beta testers out of those ten thousand to play and test the game out before it was released to the public. Of course, Kirito was very proud of the fact that he had the honor of beta testing one of the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online game, or VRMMO for short, the company Argus produced. Thanks to the efforts of the genius known as Kayaba Akihiko and the thousand beta testers, SAO eventually was able to get out of the beta stages and finally be completed. Now…the time spent to improve this game was finally able to be shown to humanity as the wondrous world of Aincrad can at last be experienced by everyone.

Anyway, Kirito was walking through the first town of the game, The Town of Beginnings, while the simulated wind blew in his long black hair. His face that looked way too like a fantasy RPG protagonist's to be real was beaming with confidence as he took out his small sword in order to inspect it. Kirito's grin showed that he was happy with this blade despite the fact that it was only a level one item. Once he walked into the village, he began dashing towards the market area to look for teleporting crystals and healing items, he did have two thousand cols to spend since this was his first account.

"Hey, Kazuto! Wait up!" a voice shouted before the boy stopped running.

"Wait a minute…Keiko? What are you doing here? You have to be at least thirteen in order to play SAO," Kirito questioned as he turned around to see a girl with brown hair behind him.

"I'm going to be thirteen next month, and my name is Silica on SAO," the girl innocently replied with a smile on her face.

Kirito loosened up a little after that response, but was still a little skeptical about a twelve year old girl playing this game. Sure, he's known Ayano Keiko for seven years and knew that she could learn how to adapt to this game, but it just seemed a little weird that she picked SAO to be her first MMO. Well, Kirito couldn't dwell on this forever, so he decided to let that pass and instead ask her something else.

"Alright…Silica, how did you know it was me?" the boy asked.

"Easy, no one is that excited when it comes to online games but you. You've been like a big brother to me for as long as I've known you, I know you better than anyone else," Silica answered as she walked closer to Kirito with her innocent smile.

"We've been over this Keiko, I'm fourteen. You're twelve…"

"Thirteen in a month," Silica retorted with an annoyed look on her face.

"And I'll be fifteen in a month. The point is, it wouldn't work out if we went out. I don't want to hurt my only friend, and I don't want to hurt my little sister."

"Fine Kirito, I won't bring it up…for now," the girl told him with a little disappoint in her voice.

"Thanks, Keiko…"

"Silica!"

"Silica, sorry. Anyway, I'm going to go look around the town some more. Want to get some dinner after we log off? It's already five-fifteen and I don't have any dinner," Kirito requested as he scratched the back of his head.

"Sure, I'd love that!" Silica replied with her innocent smile.

"See you later then," the boy told her before he walked away.

* * *

In the real world, cars were beginning to return to their homes since it was around the time for people to come back from work. However, in one of the giant houses in the neighborhood, a car was being driven out of the garage and was heading out of the neighborhood. The driver of this car was Kouichirou Yuuki, one of the beta testers for Sword Art Online. However he didn't get to play the game on its opening day, as he had a sudden business trip to attend to, and thus didn't get to put on the Nerve Gear and enter the world of Aincrad again.

Though Kouichirou didn't get an opportunity to play, that didn't mean that the Yuuki's had no representative in the game. When Kouichirou left the house, his younger sister walked into his room and noticed the box for SAO and the Nerve Gear near his computer. Hearing all the praise that SAO got during closed beta, she was curious if the game was as good as it was hyped up to be. More importantly, if SAO was able to get a gamer like Kouichirou who really didn't have time to play video games excited enough to buy opening day, the game had to be as good as it was racked up to be.

There was another reason though, which was to find some friends. She was actually kind of lonely, having only one friend outside of her family to actually talk to and hang out with. An MMO was the perfect place to be social and maybe make new friends, so the girl decided to put the Nerve Gear over her delicate head. Her chestnut colored hair covered her eyes as she closed them shut in order to activate the Nerve Gear.

"Link Start."

Three windows appeared in front of the girl after her mind returned from the black void first projected when someone puts on their Nerve Gear. The first window was a login window, requesting for the account info in order to enter the world. Well, that was a problem then, she didn't actually have an account to use. Luckily, there was a create account option that allowed her to make a character.

"Alright…that's what she'll look like. Now all I need is a name." The girl told herself as she pondered what would be the best name for her character. This was all on the fly after all; she had no time to actually come up with a name for her avatar on SAO. She laughed a little when she finally came up with her answer as she thought it should have been so easy to figure it out. "Asuna. I might as well use my real name."

After choosing Japanese as her default language, Asuna was transported into the game, with an experience that would change her life forever soon to be revealed to her. Her old surroundings disappeared as her environment transformed into the virtual world of Aincrad. The wind blew in her hair as she looked at the majestic world she was now in and smiled before she began to head towards the Town of Beginning's main square.

* * *

Back in the market area of the town, Kirito was running to the next city when a man with pink hair and a bandana began to pursue him. Eventually, Kirito was tackled by the player as a sign to stop and fell to the ground. The boy looked slightly annoyed as he didn't really enjoy being knocked down very often. The man that was able to put him on the ground stood up first and quickly offered his hand to help Kirito back on his feet.

"Sorry about that, man…hey, weren't you in the beta?"

"…Yeah, how could you tell?" Kirito questioned as he accepted the hand and stood on his feet again.

"That hairstyle wasn't in the character creation, so I assumed that it was a beta only style," the man replied.

"It was, no clue why they took it out though," the boy responded as he studied the player in front of him.

"My name's Klein and this is my first time playing a game like this. So, I was wondering, would you help me get the basics down?" the man requested as he took out his sword.

"Sure…I don't see any problems with that. The name's Kirito by the way."

"Alright Kirito, let's go out to the fields then!" Klein enthusiastically shouted as he began heading towards the outside field, the Western Fields, where wild boars spawned.

* * *

In the main square of the Town of Beginnings, the chestnut colored hair girl named Asuna was wandering around looking for anybody to talk to and make friends with. With little to no luck, she sighed as she observed a girl wearing a pink long sleeve shirt under her armor flirt with a boy wearing the same thing except a forest green shirt under his armor instead. How did those two become more than friends easily yet Asuna couldn't even make a friend? Was she really that unsocial that she didn't know how to talk to people or how to be friendly to new people? Why was it so hard for just one person to talk to her and be friendly?

As these thoughts began to take over Asuna's mind, she didn't notice that she bumped into a female character that was also walking in the town square. The girl had brown hair with a bang in her face that was separated by a white hairclip. She was wearing a red tunic under a leather breastplate, a white skirt, and brown boots that most female players were given for their default gear. Asuna studied that gear before she looked at her own. Despite the fact that most females had the same default starting armor, Asuna wasn't actually wearing the same armor as the vast majority of the female avatars were. She was wearing a white shirt with a red vest with a belt on her waist to tie a red skirt with a white front to it and white stockings under the skirt. Since she was observing these clothes, Asuna failed to notice that the girl she bumped was trying to talk to her.

"…Hey, are you alright?"

"…Oh, yeah. Sorry for bumping into you like that," Asuna told her.

"No no, it's nothing. I should paid attention to where I was walking…Asuna?" the girl replied in a surprised tone.

"Wait a minute…you know my name? Rika, is that you?!" Asuna asked with a shocked expression on her face.

"Shhh…yeah, it's me. Don't use my real name though, call me Lisbeth. Actually, call me Liz for short," the brown hair girl whispered.

"Oh, sorry," Asuna told her in an apologetic voice.

"No, it's alright. Anyway, why are you here, Asuna? I thought you didn't like video games."

"This is different…SAO was the most anticipated game in history right? I wanted to see if it really was good as people say it is. I also…" the girl with chestnut color hair stopped talking to hide the fact that she came into Sword Art Online to meet some new friends.

"I get it; you're hoping to find a boyfriend, aren't you?" Liz asked with a smug expression on her face.

"What?! No no no no, it's not like that at all!" Asuna insisted as her face turned red from embarrassment.

"It's okay Asuna; you don't have to hide something like that from me. I can already tell from the look on your face. I'll see you tomorrow!" Liz told her before walking away with a huge grin on her face.

"Hey, Liz! It's not like that at all! Come back here!" Asuna angrily demanded as she watched her friend walk away. Even though that did annoy her, Asuna was glad that she had at least one friend in this game. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

"Holy crap!" Klein complained while rolling around the ground. In the lush green fields that both he and Kirito were practicing in, a wild boar spawned in their path and stared at Klein. The katana wielder knew that the wild beast was challenging him, so he took out his trusted blade and assumed a battle stance. The old man began to swing wildly at this animal...and he missed every slice and completely passed the boar he was trying to kill. Once he turned around, his private area was met with a boar head and he began to revolve around from this sudden attack.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but you don't actually feel pain here," Kirito commented as he observed these events.

"Huh…you're right. Force of habit I guess," Klein remarked as he stood up again.

"I got to admit though, you sure know how to give someone something to laugh about," Kirito joked as he began to chuckle again.

"Shut it. The target's moving, of course I'm going to struggle," the man protested.

"Dude, it's not a training dummy. This is a basic mook that's only level one. You shouldn't be struggling this much," the boy told him.

"Wait, are you serious?! I thought this was like, a mid level boss enemy!" Klein shouted in terror.

"This is going to be a long training section," Kirito mumbled under his breath.

"Hiya!" the katana wielder yelled as he attempted a stab, only to miss and get knocked down to the ground. A green bar appeared besides Klein and suddenly decreased until it turned yellow and became half empty. The bar disappeared as quickly as it appeared as Klein reluctantly entered a new fighting pose.

Kirito grinned as he scooped up a pebble from the ground. "I'll tell you the trick."

"Hmm? You will? That would be awesome man!" Klein exclaimed in an overjoyed tone.

"It's easy. You wait until you feel the skill is going to explode inside you, and then you act. The moment you act is when the system decides to hit the target for you…if you did the right motion that is."

"Motion?"

"I'll show you."

Kirito clenched his fist that had the pebble inside of it, and closed his eyes shut. He took a deep sigh as he began to gather all of his energy into his hand. Each breath, the wind blowing in his hair every second, even the heartbeat that this virtual reality was trying to imitate; they were all influencing the skill that the beta tester was trying to perform in front of Klein's eyes. This feeling that Kirito felt every instance he used a skill in the beta, was it joy? Maybe it was excitement, or even pride that was spreading throughout his body. Whatever it was, Kirito knew that it was still inside him from the days as a beta, and that it wouldn't leave him ever. This feeling, it put a smile on his face as he charged up the skill he was about to use.

It finally came to him. The moment he was waiting for, it had arrived at last. The power to use a skill was about to explode out of his body, and now was the time to act. Kirito quickly opened his eyes and with a sudden burst in his arm, launched the pebble and threw it directly at the boar. The tiny rock was followed by a yellow stream of light that represented the fact the pebble was moving at light speed, and hit the animal right in the leg.

"That's pretty much how you do it. Got it down?" Kirito asked with a grin.

"Yeah…I think anyway," Klein said in response before he began to focus.

Klein took a deep breath before he began to see nothing but pitch black. He began to feel the wind blow in his face while the world went silent except for it and the boar he was about to kill. Wait for the most opportune time to strike, and wait for the time that the skill was about to activate. That was what Kirito told him, and now was the time to apply everything he learned. The man began to smile as he too felt that emotion that was inside Kirito as he was using a skill. Whatever the enigmatic sensation was, one thing was clear: Klein was having fun right now. That fun showed the katana wielder the joy of being in a game like SAO, and that he should just relax and have a good time playing the game instead of focusing so much on getting good at it. At the moment that sudden realization came to him, he smiled and let the skill inside him explode. As he looked back, he saw one virtual pig that was no longer in the programming as it was cut in half by his sword and the skill he was able to perform just now.

"Yes! My first kill in SAO! This is so awesome!" Klein exclaimed as he jumped for joy.

Kirito chuckled again as he walked over to his new friend. "That's cool and all, but that's still only a level one creature."

"I just can't enjoy this moment, can I?" Klein jokingly asked as he moved to the ground to lay back and watch the sky. Two more boars spawned in the fields shortly after that moment to replace the boar that was killed.

"It was awesome, wasn't it? That feeling you got when you used your skill and killed that thing. You felt alive, right?"

Klein smiled as he looked at the now setting sun. "Yeah…I'm really glad I was born in this generation. This full dive technology, it's really incredible…and I'm really glad to have experienced it."

Kirito stood there for a minute before he asked, "Say, want to go hunting for a little longer?"

"Hell yeah…is what I want to say, but I'm starving," Klein admitted as his stomach began to growl.

Kirito again laughed at his friend. "If you eat something here, it won't actually feed your body."

"That's why I ordered a pizza! Should be coming at five-thirty," the man replied with a smug look on his face.

"Aren't you prepared?" the black hair boy sarcastically commented.

"Well, I'm going to get off for now, but after that I'm going to meet up with some of my buddies. I was thinking maybe you could hang with us…"

"Oh…I don't think so," Kirito sadly responded.

"No no, it's cool. There's always a next time. Anyway, thanks for everything man," Klein told the boy as he extended his hand.

"No problem. Just message me if you have any problems, alright?"

"Will do. See ya for now." The man with pink hair walked down the path of the fields and reached the hills before he opened the menu.

"_Meet some friends huh? Maybe…" _That thought echoed inside of Kirito's mind, which caused him to fail to notice Klein's screams for him.

"Kirito! Kirito, can you hear me?!"

"What is it Klein?"

"Is it just me, or is there no logout out button?"

"What are you talking about? It should be right under the help button." Kirito went into his menu and searched for the log out button, and gasped in shock when he discovered that it wasn't where it should have been.

"See, it's not there. People are probably freaking out right now," Klein joked with a smug look.

"Shouldn't you be one of them? Your pizza is coming in five minutes."

"You're right…AH; I GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE! MY PIZZA IS WAITING FOR ME!"

"Calm down, just call the GM."

"I tried that, but he isn't responding."

Kirito put his hand on his chin as he began to try to figure out this situation. "This is weird though, you would think there would be a forced log out by the server maintenance crew or an announcement.

"Now that you mention it, you're right. There's been nothing."

"This is strange…"

As Kirito finished his comment, a light swallowed the two people standing in the fields and transported them away. The time to worry was now since a red sign appeared in the sky as people began to teleport away from their locations until they were all in the same location. An ominous wind began to blow in the air…one of the final signs that something horrible was about to happen. Perhaps the final clue was the fact that the sky began to turn crimson red, and that was almost always a sign that something bad was going to go down in SAO.

* * *

The area that all ten thousand players were transported to was the town square of the Town of Beginnings. This was actually the first time that every single player of SAO were all in the same area, but this was not anything that resembled a happy in-game event…no, it was beginning to be one of the biggest nightmares for most of the players in the game. While some players were just looking around the facility in anger, most of the players were frightened and in various positions of terror that ranged from clasping their hands to holding on to another player. It was safe to say, not a single person in this center of town activity was happy about this sudden change of effects. In fact, if anyone was actually joyful about this dire situation…they could be classified as an insane human being that should be locked up in a mental hospital.

Kirito wasn't feeling any of these emotions right now. He was just confused about what happened; it's not normal to be forcefully teleported to an area where every other person in-game was also forcefully moved to. It was also a little…suspicious that sky began to turn red while a crimson red sign that said "warning" flashed in the sky. All that didn't matter though as he realized that some kind of liquid thing was beginning to leak out of that one sign before the whole sky was suddenly covered by these red signs. Eventually, the liquid that was flowing out of the original sign began to flood out of all of the signs and form a cloaked figure in the sky. For some people, this is what they imagined it would feel like to meet god, but why is this "god" coming down and talking to them? Was this some kind of in-game event? Was this one of the GMs that was summoned to tell the players the status of the logging out bug?

"Hello valued players. My name is Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online," the voice announced from the heavens. That voice…it was calming yet it was also terrifying to the players. They were literally staring at "god", and he just casually addressed them. "You may have noticed that there is no log out button; I am here to announce to that it is not in fact, a bug or anything. It is actually a feature of SAO."

The entire crowd of players immediately showed their opinions. "WHAT?! Are you insane?!"

"Kirito, he's kidding right? You have to be pretty fucked up in the head to do something crazy like this…right?" Klein asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

"…" Kirito's silence and expression on his face told the whole story.

"No…why are you doing something like this asshole!" the man yelled from the crowd.

"**You suck! You suck! You suck!"**

While not showing his rage towards this sudden change of events physically, Kirito was furious by the announcement that Kayaba had proclaimed. Klein was right, what fucked up person would do something like this? Did Kayaba really want to see ten thousand people go insane from being trapped inside of this virtual simulation? What exactly was going through this mad man's mind right now as he was talking?

Even though the flames of hatred were coming from the crowd, Kayaba wasn't backing down at all by these insults or threats. Although most players couldn't see it under the hood he was wearing, the man was actually smiling at this verbal abuse. Whatever he was planning, it was clear that he was enjoying every second of it and didn't regret doing any of it.

"You are now trapped in my world with only one way of getting out…beating the game. You must clear all one hundred floors of this castle known as Aincrad, and live. If you die at any point during this game, you will die in the real world as well. If anyone tries to rip the Nerve Gear off your head in the real world, your brain will be electrified by microwaves and you will die both there and here. Thanks to the news, over two hundred people have been confirmed dead and no one else will try to take the helmet off. You will all be moved to a hospital eventually, where you will be disconnected from the server, but not die if you return before two hours have passed. One more thing, check your inventory as there should be one item that was given to you." The cloaked figure faded away once he finished that statement.

After that command, Kirito opened the menu and quickly entered his inventory. There was only one item…a mirror. When he clicked on the name of it, the mirror quickly appeared inside Kirito's hand and reflected an image of his real face. At that instance, a light surrounded the dashing protagonist for a few seconds before dissipating. Once looking at the mirror again, he realized that his face was what he actually looked like in real life. His long hair wasn't quite as long now, but it was still black and in a neat style while his face no longer showed any signs of masculinity. If he wasn't wearing the default armor that male avatars wore, it would be easy to mistake him for a girl. As he looked around, he noticed that other players also had changed looks, most likely their real appearance as well.

"Wait a minute…Kirito? Is that you?"

Kirito turned around and looked surprised at the man he was staring at. "Klein? You look like a thug in real life?" Klein was still wearing his armor, but his hair was now shaggy. Other than that though, the only real difference was that he now had a growing beard.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Kayaba trapped…Silica! Where is she?!" the boy asked scared out of his mind all of a sudden.

As the fact he was now in a death game finally sank in, he realized that Keiko was also trapped here. He began running through the crowds looking for his closest friend…no, his little sister, with Klein closely following him. One of the people they passed was Liz, who was now on her knees with a look of lost hope on her face. After another minute, they passed an Asuna who was on the verge of crying, but they ignored her as they didn't know who she was.

"I just wanted to play a sociable game," Asuna weakly pleaded as tears began to pour down her eyes.

Eventually, after the duo fought through riot after riot in the crowd, Kirito was able to find Silica hiding behind the side of a building, tears flowing down her face. She was only twelve, so to say this experience wasn't traumatizing to her would be a flat out lie. When she noticed Kirito running towards her, she quickly headed towards him and hugged him tightly. They weren't really related, but Silica looked up to Kirito like he was her big brother because he was the one person that tried to understand her and cheer her up, and she really needed someone like that right now.

"It's going to be alright; I'll protect you Keiko. Even if I die…I'll protect my little sister," Kirito promised as he continued to hold Silica in her arms.

"Kirito…take her and go to the next town," Klein told the boy as he turned around.

"Klein…" the boy stood there silently as he was really conflicted about what to do. Should he take Silica and leave behind his only other friend, or should he risk a harder journey by having two people with him at all times?

"It's alright; I have to find my friends anyway. I have to stick with them; they would do the same for me."

"…Promise me that you'll message me the moment trouble comes your way."

The old man folded his arms and waited for his friend to leave. "I will, now go!"

"Thanks Klein…" Kirito picked up Silica and began to run before he was stopped by that voice of the man again.

"Kirito, you look way better that way." The man grinned after giving that compliment.

"Right…and you're a good guy, despite your thuggish face," Kirito complimented before he and the girl in his arms left the town.

* * *

The winds of change blew as Kirito and Silica began heading towards the second town of this floor. In order to beat SAO, they would need to clear all one hundred floors of the flying castle known as Aincrad, which also happened to be the world that the game was set in. To survive, they would need to level up quickly, as well as not suffer a single death…otherwise its game over for them, both here and in the real world. A lone wolf that stood in their path antagonized was charging towards Kirito, who had a look of determination on his face. The boy took out his blade and began to focus his energy until…BOOM, a feeling to use a skill occurred. In a flash of a moment, he sliced that beast in half with one strike, which caused the creature to disappear. With a ferocious look on his face, Kirito yelled in victory with a happy Silica beside him. Together, they would survive this hellish game.


	2. Chapter 2: I Will Protect Them

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Sword Art Online series; all credit goes to Reki Kawahara for writing the light novel and A-1 Pictures for creating the anime. The only thing I take credit for is any OC I might include in this story._

**Chapter 2: I Will Protect Them**

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed chapter 1. Don't forget to leave feedback in the reviews, I would really appreciate it. Also, enjoy the story? Then fav and follow!**

* * *

_November 16, 2022_

Two months had passed since the death game known as Sword Art Online commenced. In the first two months, a total of two thousand people have died by a wide variety of methods. Some who didn't believe the insane Kayaba's words about dying jumped off the flying castle of Aincrad in order to prove that they won't die for real and just respawn back in the Town of Beginnings. All of those foolish people were proven wrong as no one ever saw them after they tested their theory. Those people made up about three hundred out of the two thousand deaths that were suffered during these two months, which was sadly the smallest death category.

The second group with a total of around one thousand casualties was the group of people that were killed by the monsters spawned. These people perished mainly because they were inexperienced at MMOs and couldn't get used to it, so they became victims of a situation out of their control. That still wasn't even the most tragic reason for death though, as the remaining players that were now dead were eliminated by another player.

These player-killers or PKers for short were similar to the first group as they also didn't believe that dying in SAO meant death in reality. Unlike the first group though, they didn't want to test the limits of life or death on themselves. Instead, they chose to kill other players to see if they would in fact disappear from this world. Well, that was the vast majority of the PKers reasoning for slaughtering their fellow players, some PKers were killing just because they would quench that sadistic thirst they had for murder that way. This world changed people, and it was for the worst most of the time. So if these PKers came back to the real world, chances were that they would end up becoming criminals. This was definitely the most horrible way to die because you don't know when you could be betrayed and killed…but there was no law in SAO other than survive, so this wouldn't be something that could be stopped easily…

These tragedies were occurring in the world around Kirito and Silica, and there was virtually no escape for these two. They couldn't make it to the next floor as no one had been able to defeat the first boss yet, and it was pretty much impossible to defeat it on your own. To defeat it, you would need a raid group of around twenty people to finish the creature…and that was kind of hard since many of the people trapped were greedy when it came to loot. See, most people would agree to party if they were guaranteed a rare item…but they would deny joining a party or raid if they were not going to get anything from it.

* * *

Silica was sitting on the grass as the two were trying to relax. They had just returned from a training spree from the outskirts of Tolbana where the creatures were really no match for the duo. Sure this was good for gaining experience points in order to level up, but there would be no point if they couldn't move on to the next floor of Aincrad. Why did this have to happen to her anyway? Was really playing this game a month early this bad? If that was the case, Silica would never play a rated M game until she was seventeen. It might have been a little embarrassing since most of her friends would probably get them before that age, but she was okay with it as long as she didn't get trapped in a game ever again. This was seriously an unfair situation…but things would work out as long as Kirito was here with her. She always had that thought in her mind when something went wrong, and she would continue to think that way. Kirito had promised her that he would protect her, and she truthfully believed that. The one person she could actually rely on, she had put all her faith into him and will hope he will save them.

The girl turned to Kirito and sighed. "Hey, Kirito…when do you think the first dungeon will be cleared? We've been stuck on the first floor for about two months now."

"Who knows? No one even knows how to beat the boss yet," the boy responded. He was lying on his back watching the clouds go by while thinking about something. It was true no one knew how to beat the boss, but there was a meeting today at the town square for people who wanted to finally defeat the boss. Kirito wanted to attend the meeting, but he didn't want to bring Silica because he knew that she wasn't ready to fight a boss yet.

"Kirito? Hey…Kirito, you okay?" a voice nervously asked, snapping the black hair boy back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. There's no reason to worry, Keiko," Kirito responded. He sat up and began smiling to show his friend that he was perfectly okay.

"That's good to hear. Anyway, is it alright if I go train some more?" the girl wondered as she stood up.

"Go right ahead; just remember to use a teleporting crystal at the first signs of danger, alright?" Kirito requested as he got on his feet as well.

"Of course, see you soon!" Silica quickly headed towards the outskirts of Tolbana as she watched Kirito wave goodbye.

Admittedly, Kirito didn't want to let her go alone, but he had to let her go for now if he was going to clear the first floor of Aincrad. To get her out of SAO, that was what Kirito promised Silica, and he needed to know how to clear this floor in order to advance farther into the flying castle. So while he didn't particularly enjoy this decision, Kirito knew that he had to do it.

* * *

The town square of Tolbana looked like an outdoor theater. There were stands where the people could sit in and observe the spectacle that would have been shown on the stage in the dead center if this was the regular SAO instead of the death game they were all playing now. Players were gathering at this stage and took their seats. Not wanting to get noticed, Kirito decided to hang around the back row of the crowd. He sat there with a bored expression, waiting for something to occur which might have been the very well case now as a man with long blue hair and blue eyes walked into the center of the stage. Everyone in attendance stared at the man wearing a bronze set of armor over his arms, shoulders, chest, and shins; it was clear that he was the one that organized this meeting. Murmurs began to spread throughout this crowd as they began to talk about various methods to killing something and how to survive. With a stern cough though, the man onstage caused the entire crowd to go silent.

"Alright people, listen up! My name is Diabel, and I like to consider my class as knight…"

The crowd laughed with various comments shortly falling. "There's no class system in SAO!"

"On a more serious note, we are here today to discuss how to defeat the boss. We are going to end this massacre once and for all and move on to the second floor…today!" Diabel began with a roar of approval from the mass of people quickly appearing. "Form parties of no more than six to stand a better chance against the boss."

Forming a party…Kirito came to the sudden realization that he couldn't get in a party because he didn't know anyone here and the only person that he actually knew was outside of the town right now. He began to panic as he witnessed various people forming parties with other players; pretty soon no other players would be left to party and Kirito would be forced to enter the final dungeon of the first floor on his own. That was a situation that the boy definitely didn't want to be in, but it was beginning to become a reality as literally only a handful of people were left over from the various parties that were being formed.

As if fate was smiling on Kirito though, he noticed a mysterious player sitting there like they were trying to ignore the other players. It was easy to tell by what you can actually see of their face that the player was in fact a girl. For some reason though, she wasn't moving from her spot. Maybe she thought that people would come to her red cloak or she was just shy. The reasoning she was alone didn't matter to Kirito though, as he just scooted over to this enigmatic female player. He took a deep breath before he finally decided to poke her shoulder. After that action, the girl looked up quickly, which caused her eyes to flash in Kirito's sight of vision for a split second to reveal her hazel eyes to him.

"Hey, do you want to form a party? It would only be temporary and would be a big advantage for the both of us," Kirito proposed to the girl.

Instead of an actual reply, the girl just nodded in approval. Since he wasn't demanding for a gaudy response like her jumping all over him saying yes, Kirito just opened up the main menu and clicked on the button that said 'Form Party'. A box appeared in front of the girl who nodded before pushing the circle button under the words 'Would you like to join this party?'

Kirito looked over the life bar now under his own life bar to see the name of his new party member. He carefully examined it to discover that the 'alias' of this human in this world was Asuna. That sounded like a girl's name sure, but Kirito didn't know anyone bold…or stupid enough to use their real name as an in-game name. The closest situation he knew that someone used their real name as an IGN was his own, the _Kiri _from Kirigaya and _to _from Kazuto combined in order to make the name Kirito. It was kind of a trivial matter though, so the boy decided to just shrug it off and just think his new party member's name is Asuna. It didn't really matter if that was her real name or not, it was highly unlikely they would meet each other in the real world after all.

When Kirito finally decided to let that whole thought go away, a mad individual suddenly appeared from above the crowd. He leaped from his position and landed on the fifth row from the stage before taking two smaller hops to get to Diabel's side. Kirito finally took notice of this man and made some observations about him. According to his yell from jumping from the top of the stands to the fifth row, he had some kind of accent. His sienna hair also resembled a cactus, and he had a rough face, those fierce brown eyes and sienna goatee didn't help his case if he was really the nicest guy in the world, but that was most likely not the case.

"Before we move on with this meeting, I got something to say. In two months, around two thousand people have died, and it's all a certain group of people's fault!" the man proclaimed as he pointed to the crowd.

"Kibaou, are you referring to beta players?" Diabel inquired as he stepped aside from the man.

"Yeah, and they know why too. Those beta testers…when this hell began, they took all the good grinding spots and are now hogging all the quests and places to level up themselves! They're leaving the rest of us to die, and I bet one of those beta testers is here! You hear me beta tester? You better get out here and hand us all your items! That's not all though, you better get on your knees and apologize to us for killing off two thousand people!" the man named Kibaou demanded.

Kirito began to get a little nervous after Kibaou's outburst. He was a beta tester after all, so the hatred the mobs of people were beginning to express would be directed towards him if they found out his secret. Sweat began to beat down his face as Asuna looked over to him. Instead of asking him what was wrong though, she decided to ignore all of this. She wasn't a beta tester, so this really didn't matter to her. Although she was ignoring this, this didn't mean she didn't feel any anger towards this man. Kibaou was pretty much saying the beta testers killed everyone, and Asuna's brother was a beta tester. They did argue sometimes, but Asuna's brother was a good person generally and would never do something like Kibaou suggested. Her inner rage though, she prevented it from becoming outer rage and decided to just let the man speak lies.

While Asuna took care of this situation pretty well, Kirito was beginning to panic more and more. It really seemed like this crowd was focused on finding out which one of them didn't belong, and that was the boy in this situation. He was really pressured by this, so pressured that he was really considering doing what Kibaou demanded and get up there and apologize. As if it was a miracle though, a large man of African descent stood from the stands and approached Kibaou. While the man was smaller, he didn't back down for one moment. Something was about to go down, that was for sure.

"My name's Agil and I just want to make sure I heard you right. So, the beta testers are the reason for all the people dying… because they didn't take care of us? They didn't hold our hands this whole two months, and that's why they're bad? For those reasons, they should give up all their items and their dignity so they can die easier? Am I close?"

"They experienced this before! They should have helped the people who never played a game like this get used to the environment and teach them the basics! They chose to ignore us though and get us killed by not telling us a damn thing!" Kibaou answered.

"Not telling us a damn thing? So what's this book exactly?" Agil questioned as he took out a small grey book.

"A guidebook, what exactly does that have to with anything?" Kibaou asked, annoyed.

"This guidebook that you can easily get at a market for free has information on everything on the first floor minus the boss. A guidebook a beta tester gave his life for…to get all the information inside to help ungrateful new players that blame them for everything…is that what you call _not telling us a damn thing_?!" the African man asked in rage.

"You win this round, but I'll make you pay," Kibaou whispered before he moved to the front row of the stands.

"People, I know I'm not very important here, but I got something to say. The man that gave his life to give us this information for the guidebook, the people who were wronged by this game and died, and even those living in fear of things like PKers or dying…I want to clear this game for all of them. So we should learn from the mistakes of those who died, and defeat Kayaba's hellish idea of entertainment for them!"

Cheers and applause spread throughout this outdoor stage as people began to give Agil a standing ovation. His words were very inspiring and actually felt like it came from the heart, which not a lot of people could pull off in SAO since liars and betrayers were all around the corner in this nightmare. To speak from the heart, that was something admirable that every person could only wish another player would do. So this standing ovation, it was the least these guys could do after Agil's speech.

Even Kirito smiled as the man went back to his seat in the third row as if he didn't give an awe inspiring speech just a few seconds ago. Kirito studied this man, and noticed he really didn't have much impressive traits other than his height. He was bald, wearing a variation of the default male armor that was a white sleeveless shirt, black leather pants, a leather chest piece, and a huge battle axe was strapped to his back. Even though he wasn't impressive battle wise in Kirito's eyes, the boy was grateful to him because he defended him indirectly with his words. He didn't know how, but Kirito wanted to repay Agil someday.

"We should get back to the main topic of this meeting," Diabel began as the crowd stopped their clapping. It was almost like people had forgotten the blue hair man was the one in charge of this meeting. "A new beta tester became the lead info getter once the man Agil mentioned sadly passed away. She has done a wondrous job and even discovered some things about the boss. His name is Illfang the Kobold Lord and he is a demon that is covered in blue-grey fur. He has four health bars and an angry form where he turns red once he reaches his last health bar. He wields a battle Axe and a leather shield, and eventually switches to a Talwar sword as his desperation weapon. Finally, as he fights, he will summon Ruin Kobold Sentinels to aid him. That is all the info we have on Illfang for now. In a few hours, we will go to the the boss and finally win! Please eat lunch before we depart. Meet at the village gate in one hour. Dismissed!"

* * *

The town of Tolbana was filled with life as all the members of the new raid group began to party around the town since a raid group had finally been formed. Various groups of people were celebrating and drinking in the middle of town square, but some decided to tone it down and not eat much. One of these people was Agil, who limited himself to three pieces of bread with no beverage to prepare for this fight. He was crowded by around ten people that wanted to be in his group now that he showed that he was willing to put aside a petty hatred of beta testers in order to get the raid done.

Kirito, who was standing behind a building to avoid attention, opened up the main menu and quickly went to his friend's list. He had to send a message to Silica to tell her that he would be gone for the whole day. Of course, he couldn't tell her that he was going to fight Illfang; she would be way too scared to let him go on his own and insist on going with him. Even though he trusted Silica's skills, she was still in huge danger since she still has only been in the MMORPG world for two months. If this was a regular game, then there would be no risk and Kirito would be okay with taking her…but this was a survival game. Die once here and you're dead for good. Silica couldn't afford any mistakes and she was bound to make one in a boss fight eventually. He was worrying enough about her being alone in the outskirts of town, so this wasn't really something Kirito was going to debate over.

The boy decided to just sit down and enjoy his lunch instead of worrying before a boss fight. He walked over to a bench with a plant behind the bench that appeared to have no one sitting there, but discovered that Asuna was also easting her lunch there. She took a small bite out of a piece of bread, and didn't notice Kirito's presence. The boy made the decision to just sit down, which caused Asuna to move over a little to avoid sitting next to him. There was only one person she would be okay sitting next to, and she's busy looking for a place to gather materials for some purpose. Asuna missed Liz, but knew that she could take care of herself.

"Hey, are you alright with just eating that piece of bread?" a voice asked, suddenly snapping Asuna back to reality…well virtual reality. The girl nodded in response to that question, not really interested in talking to the person who asked it.

"Well, if you want to change it up a little, try using this." The owner of the voice put a small container near Asuna and left it there, letting her decide if she wanted to use it or not. The girl simply put her finger over the lid and tapped it, causing her finger to gain a blue round aura. She moved her finger over the loaf and noticed a yellow substance on top of it. Feeling curious, she took a bite and felt a sweet sensation in her mouth.

"…Cream?" she asked as she turned to the person sitting next to her. She finally noticed that the boy she was partying with was next to her. Kirito watched as he finished her bread in two bites.

"_So, she actually talks," _Kirito thought before taking a breath. "Yeah, I got it as a reward from a quest in the last town. I can show you how to do it if you want."

"No, I didn't come to this town for great food," Asuna coldly replied.

"So why did you come to this town exactly?"

"…I don't want to lose myself. When this nightmare began, I stayed in the first city and cried while my best friend watched over me. I appreciated the care but I decided to take fate into my own hands. I decided I was going to go down fighting instead of waiting it out in the Town of Beginnings. Even if I died…I would win against this game because I stayed me until the bitter end."

"Well…can you not die today? I wouldn't want a party member dying on me," Kirito responded. The girl nodded as her answer, and sat there silently while Kirito finished off the rest of his food. This was definitely going to be an interesting party.

* * *

An hour had now come and gone, and the raid group was now heading towards the final dungeon of the first floor. A lush green forest was their pathway to the dungeon, and the path to getting closer to victory. Today would be a glorious day, as victory was all but assured with this raid group. There were seven groups in this raid group, each being letter coordinated. The first three, known as Groups A-C, were the tanks that would take the damage and dish it out and Group D would be the support for Group C when they get tired. Groups F and G were the long range support, staying in the backlines as the tank groups engage the boss. The final group, Group E was in charge of defeating the Sentinels that the boss would summon. That was the group that Kibaou, Kirito, and Asuna were put in.

Walking besides his partner, Kirito began explaining to Asuna what they were supposed to do. For the most part, she was more focused on what Liz was doing. Asuna last heard from her last night when she said that she was going to come back by dinnertime. Soon, Liz would come back and notice that Asuna left town.

"Asuna, I'm going to strike first and then you switch when I give the signal," Kirito told her as they continued walking.

"…Switch? What's a switch exactly?" the girl curiously asked.

"Is this your first time in a party?"

"Yeah."

Kirito stopped in place before taking a deep breath. This was definitely going to be a long raid, and it didn't help his partner had never worked with someone before. Despite that though, he was ready to win. The group stood in front of the dungeon's entrance and cautiously entered. The time to fight was about to begin.

* * *

An hour had passed, and the group had finally reached the boss door. Inside of it, the creature that they would fight for the right to advance to the next floor stood. Final preparations were made, ranging from healing potions at the ready to taking out teleporting crystals just in case danger came. Once everyone was in proper position, Diabel stood from the front of the mob and gave a stern look to all the players here. He pointed his sword into the air and let his face do the talking for him. This was a side of Diabel not much people thought he was capable of. The guy didn't seem serious at all since he didn't come off as a serious guy during the meeting. This side of him was a completely different story; this side of Diabel seemed like a leader that would get them a victory. Shortly after raising his sword in the air, the door slowly opened, and the room flooded with around thirty charging players. Boss battle time.

* * *

The boss room was a wide facility, so wide that the thirty players who entered the room didn't even fill up an eighth of the chamber. The room was colorful and flamboyant, flashing colors of pink, purple and green all blended together everywhere. The columns also had a royal look that was actually spread throughout the chamber, fitting for the Lord of the Kobolds. Suddenly, a crash sound echoed in the room, shocking the entire group of people. When they looked towards the back of the room, they noticed a demon sitting on the chair. Besides the demon though, three sentinels appeared by his side and were in a position to guard their master. The demon had a ferocious look on his face, revealing the canine like appearance of the boss. He jumped into the sky and landed ten feet in front of the raiders, causing a small shockwave that knocked down around three people to the ground.

Diabel bravely stood tall and pointed his blade towards the foe. "Charge full force!"

The thirty players courageously charged towards their targets, with Kibaou beginning this boss battle by slaying a sentinel in one strike. As Group E engaged the minions, the first faction to engage with Illfang was Group B, led by Agil. He coordinated orders perfectly, leading to his party members getting the first hit before he came into the fray. Taking out his battle axe rather quickly, the man charged a skill and hacked at the foe. Agil wasn't done though, as he threw his weapon into the air and rolled under Illfang. By the time he reached the other side, the axe landed right on the back of the boss. He quickly jumped into the air and dislodged the weapon from the boss. As soon as he landed on his feet, Agil charged up a skill and again hacked the boss with the weapon that was surrounded with a green stream of light. Suddenly, four green bars appeared besides Illfang. As quickly as it appeared though, the top bar was depleted and shattered. The first health bar was empty, three more to go.

Switch. Group B quickly changed places with Group C, who were led by Diabel. Though there was a moment to rest for the boss, he still couldn't handle the assault that was being brought to him. The various swords were being inplanted into the legs and arms of the demon, and they were slowly chipping away the second health bar. Diabel started to charge and slashed the boss five times with his sword as Group D switched with the current attackers to avoid exhaustion. Illfang's second bar shattered; he's down to half health now.

While Group A switched and entered the battle in Group D's stead, Group E continued to hold off sentinels. Right now, eight of them have been slain, with three more on their way. Kirito was battling one while Asuna waited for a signal to enter the fray. The boy continued his assault though, knocking down his foe and killing it. As a second charged him, Kirito ducked out of the way and knocked its weapon out of its hand. He quickly backed up and looked over to Asuna.

"Switch!"

Asuna charged right in, taking out her bladed weapon of choice…a rapier. With grace, she stabbed the sentinel three times before it also disappeared. As she continued to engage the small fry, Kirito was watching her with awe. He thought that she was just a beginner…but this was absolutely incredible. She was incredibly elegant with each stab, and still showed enough force and malice that she looked to be a real danger to the sentinels. Kirito just couldn't stop staring at her…she was just so awe inspiring. The cloaked warrior was also avoiding each attack effortlessly, showing that she knew how to maneuver and move as agile as a swan. He was mesmerized by her, so focused on watching her majestic moves that he failed to notice the signal to switch.

"Switch!"

"…What? Oh right!" Kirito responded as he charged towards the sentinels, slicing a second one in half. Honestly, he was still a little at awe from the performance that Asuna just put up.

Meanwhile, the various members of Group A combined with the aid of Groups F and G, finally depleted Illfang's third life bar, leaving him with only one-fourth of his health left. The players were gaining a new hope as they saw the light at the end of the tunnel; they were actually going to defeat the boss with no casualties! Smiles began to enter all of the various players as they realized that they were going to make. Group C quickly surrounded the demon, trapping him in the process. That was the signal for the final part of the battle strategy; trap Illfang so someone can kill him in one final strike.

"Everyone stand back! I'll finish this!" Diabel ordered as he ran in front of the monster. He got into a position that had the arm that was holding his sword in the air. The weapon that was pointing towards Illfang's chest suddenly turned yellow and gained the shape of a cross. Unexpectedly though, Illfang took out a Nodachi sword and jumped into the air. The shockwave of this action was much more powerful than before, inflecting a status condition known as "stunned". Seventeen of the people surrounding the demon were infected, Diabel included.

Kirito had a sudden realization that the weapon Illfang wasn't the same as it was from the beta.

"Get out of there!" the boy yelled.

Kibaou turned around and overheard Kirito, and had a shocked expression on his face. "What?!"

Illfang quickly turned his attention to Diabel and unleashed a dangerous three hit combo. The final slash caused a third shockwave that blew all of the surrounding people away and Diabel to crash into the ground. His sword pierced his neck and caused him to cough heavily. Luckily this was only virtual reality; otherwise Diabel would have been coughing up some serious amounts of blood. Even though it was virtual reality…that didn't mean Kayaba's words weren't true, so the man whose health points depleted to zero began to disappear. As he tried to look to his side, he noticed Kirito run towards his side with a health potion in hand. When he saw the boy, he began to smile for some odd reason.

* * *

"Diabel, take this!" Kirito pleaded as he attempted to hand him the potion, but the man put his hand in front of it as a sign of denying it.

"You were in the beta, right?

"Yeah…wait a minute. You were going for the last attack bonus, weren't you?!" Kirito asked in a shocked tone. He knew about that bonus, since he obtained it in the beta…but why did Diabel go for something so petty like that?

"I really wanted to protect them all…but my greed got me. I deserve to die…but please…make it to the end and protect them!" Diabel begged before disappearing in a burst of light.

"_Diabel…you always put others first. When you put yourself before others, you decided to die for it. I've always focused on protecting Keiko and myself only…but you cared about everyone." _This inner monologue ceased when Kirito stood back up and picked up Diabel's weapon. He activated the skill the man had attempted to use before dying and stared at the monster that killed the beta tester.

Agil observed these events with his group. He smiled gently at this sight. "Men, we're going to stand back and let that guy handle the boss from this point. We will only go in when he is in need of assistance."

"I will protect them!" Kirito proclaimed to the beast, confidence beaming from his eyes.

"I'll back you up, alright?"

"Yeah…thanks, Asuna," Kirito said in gratitude to the cloaked girl who was standing beside him once again.

"That bastard…I'm going to kill him," Kibaou muttered to himself. Agil and Kirito, they were both on Kibaou's hit list now.

The skill Kirito was going to use finally reached its final stage, _Holy Cross_. For the next five minutes, his sword would protect him from any status ailments and he could do enough damage to defeat Illfang in five attacks. Once the skill finally activated, the two charged towards the demon together. The boss summoned three sentinels, but they were for naught as Kirito's Holy Cross skill was able to cut them in half with only one slash. This was definitely a technique that most of these people had never seen before, and they were watching with glee at this spectacle.

Asuna began her part of the attack by attempting three thrusts, but the beast avoided them all quite easily. When he returned to the ground he attempted the same technique that killed Diabel, but ended up cutting the hood to Asuna's cloak instead. Her now revealed long chestnut hair and her completely visible hazel eyes showed eyes of determination. She wasn't going to lose this fight…that's what she decided. That goal suddenly made her rapier glow silver, and a skill was now being activated by Asuna.

"Linear!" the girl suddenly held her weapon on front of her before she turned and stabbed Illfang. The demon suffered a little recoil before he attempted a counterattack.

"ASUNA!" Kirito screamed as he saw the demon's attack connect.

"Damn it, there goes the cloak," Asuna muttered under her breath.

Kirito was stunned by the girl in front of him. Sure, he already figured out that Asuna was a girl, but…she looked beautiful now that she wasn't wearing the cloak. This much strength, this much beauty, Kirito could have fallen in love right there. Maybe he did, but that didn't matter right now as his first priority was to kill Illfang. A red light began to shine from the sword, as Kirito's emotions began to flood his…no, Diabel's sword. Everything from his respect and gratitude for Agil, this…feeling for Asuna, and his brotherly love for Silica…they empowered the weapon to form an SAO first, a unique skill. The only one who would be able to use this skill would be Kirito, and he knew it as well.

"Baptism of Light!" Kirito quickly jumped into the air and quickly made four gashes in the chest area of Illfang. The resulting shape of a square fell out of the demon's body before he disappeared in a flash of radiance. The boy sat down on the ground and relaxed as a box that said "Last Attack Bonus" appeared before him while the word "Congratulations" flashed above his head. The raid group began to cheer for Kirito for not only winning, but for using incredible skills like the Holy Cross and Baptism of Light. It's not every day you get to see two skills like those!

* * *

"Good job kid," Agil praised as he slowly walked towards the boy.

"Yeah, you deserve that last bonus," Asuna chimed in with a smile on her face.

"You're awesome man! You should lead us all the way!" compliments like that echoed from the crowd as they all cheered.

While most people were ecstatic, there was one that was anything but happy. Kibaou stood in place while the person he despised was getting praised. While no one else seemed to have notice, Kibaou heard Kirito yell at Diabel to get out of the way. He knew what kind of trouble Diabel was actually in! There was only one possible way that he could have known the fact that the boss had a different strategy than from what they were told by the meeting. Yes, the answer was clear…that guy was a beta tester! To get him hated, that was the first step in Kibaou's revenge…his revenge for getting Diabel killed!

"Hey…why did you let Diabel die?!" the man furiously asked.

"What?" That was the only response Kirito could let out.

"Yeah, you got him killed! Why didn't you warn us about the boss changing attack patterns?! You must be a beta tester! That's the only way you could have seen that coming! That beta tester's info was bogus too! I knew it; beta testers only care about themselves and don't give a damn about the rest of us!"

"Hey…that's right! I heard him…he warned Diabel! Plus, there's no way he should have known how to use a skill he had never used unless he used it in the beta!"

"I bet there's another beta here too! You better get your ass out here, you damn bastard!" Kibaou continued.

Tensions began to rise as suspicion of a second beta tester being there began to spread throughout the crowd. People who had once considered each other as comrades a few seconds ago were now ready to berate and hate on that very comrade if they were the beta tester. Unbeknownst to all of them, the second beta tester already died and was the one that motivated Kirito to awaken those two skills. He also wanted Kirito to save them from this game…but they couldn't do that if they were arguing. There was only one thing he could, and it involved putting on the "Last Attack Bonus" item, the Coat of Midnight. Entering his inventory, the long black coat was projected over his arms and back. Kirito began to laugh manically as every person turned to him.

"Those beta testers…they were nothing compared to you guys. They barely knew how to attack and level up, so you guys are miles ahead of them. Me, on the other hand, I made it higher than anyone else in the closed beta! The reason why I knew about that weapon was because I saw it on a later floor. I am far worse than a beta tester." Everyone gasped as they listened to this sudden reveal.

Kibaou was the first to speak up. "That…that…that's worse than a beta tester, that bastard's a cheater! A-a-a- beater!"

"Beater, eh? I like the sound of that," Kirito coldly replied as he began to head out of the dungeon, accompanied by a massive amount of jeers. The only ones to not boo were Agil and Asuna, who saw what he was really doing. They both knew that he was willing to become the most hated player by becoming a beater to protect the other beta testers. Asuna decided that she wanted to talk to him, and find out why he did it though. Actually, she wanted to know one more important thing…how he figured out her name without telling him. She began running towards the boy, who stopped right front of the entrance to the boss room and turned to her.

"If someone you trust asks you to join a guild, accept their offer. You're strong, but there's only so much a solo player can do alone," Kirito told her.

"What about you?"

"…" There was no response.

"Anyway, back there…you called me Asuna. How did you know my name?" the girl curiously asked.

"You see that bar under your health bar? That's my health. Since we're in a party, we can see each other's life bars. That's how I knew," Kirito responded.

"…Oh, that's how. I should have known that," Asuna responded. She began to giggle a little at the thought of not seeing an easy answer once again. She then looked under her name and studied the name. Kirito. She would definitely remember that one.

"I hope to see you again." With that, Kirito opened up a box that asked if he wanted to disband his party. He pushed the circle button, which effectively disbanded the party. He walked out of the place, leaving Asuna at the entrance of the boss room alone.

People were really fickle. One moment they celebrate a victory, the next they get ready to kill their allies because they thought something they hate was among them. In just a few seconds, the hero who defeated Illfang the Kobold Lord became the most despised player in all of SAO…and that title wasn't going to just go away.


	3. Chapter 3: Don't Just Smile, Laugh

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Sword Art Online series; all credit goes to Reki Kawahara for writing the light novel and A-1 Pictures for creating the anime. The only thing I take credit for is any OC I might include in this story._

**Chapter 3: Don't Just Smile, Laugh**

**WARNING, New OCs approaching! (I'm doing this every time I introduce an OC. Hope it isn't that much)**

* * *

_November 16, 2022 _

_"Kirito? Hey…Kirito, you okay?" a voice nervously asked, snapping the black hair boy back to reality._

_"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. There's no reason to worry, Keiko," Kirito responded. He sat up and began smiling to show his friend that he was perfectly okay._

_"That's good to hear. Anyway, is it alright if I go train some more?" the girl wondered as she stood up._

_"Go right ahead; just remember to use a teleporting crystal at the first signs of danger, alright?" Kirito requested as he got on his feet as well._

_"Of course, see you soon!" Silica quickly headed towards the outskirts of Tolbana as she watched Kirito wave goodbye._

* * *

That was going through her mind right now. To be honest, Silica wasn't too keen on the idea of leaving Kirito's side. You shouldn't exactly leave one of the most important people in your life's side when you are facing something like this. However, she heard about the meeting in Tolbana to defeat the first floor's final dungeon boss from two people discussing it as she was killing boars. She also figured that Kirito wanted to attend it; it would help get the both of them out of Aincrad after all. She also knew that since he was protective of her, he would say no to letting her go to the meeting no matter how many times she begged him to let her. So instead of fighting a hopeless battle, she decided to play along with Kirito and make some excuse so that he could attend the meeting.

Now, Silica was stabbing boars with her dagger and actually getting bored with this task she had already done a thousand times already. At this point, it was getting incredibly tedious; she already went up at least fifteen levels with Kirito by killing these things…so she already knew every possible thing about these boars. If she made a mistake at this point, it would have been her fault instead of actually being bested by the creature. That thought empowered Silica to stab and defeat the seventh boar to challenge her in one strike once again. Once again, she effortlessly defeated an enemy without losing a single health point.

Boredom. It was beginning to overwhelm Silica more and more. Killing boars for twenty minutes…that was such a hassle at this point. There was no challenge in killing these things anymore thanks to the level raising spree that she had just done an hour ago. Sometimes, you get bored playing safe and that was the case for Silica. She knew that she promised Kirito that she would only be in the outskirts of town, but what was the harm in going someplace where she could get more experience? She decided; it was time for her to go to a more challenging place.

The name of the setting was the Jungle of Claws. Filled with lush green trees, a wide variety of plants, and the more dangerous wolves as enemies, this was the best grinding spot on the entire first floor other than the dungeon with the floor boss in it. Of course, Silica didn't have that option since she promised Kirito that she wouldn't leave the outskirts of town and he was at that dungeon right now, so the Jungle of Claws was the next best option. There was also no boss in the jungle, so there's no way for her to get surprised attack by a super creature. The only thing she needed to make sure she avoided were PKers and a huge pack of at least fifteen wolves. If she did that, then she would be perfectly safe from danger and gain enough experience to level up five times at least.

"I'm level twenty thanks to grinding with Kirito. I have a beta tester on my side, I'm probably the most prepared thirteen year old in this game, and I have at least three teleporting crystals and potions. I think I'm going to go through this place pretty easily!" Silica confidently proclaimed before finally entering the jungle.

From the distance, three mysterious figures watched her from afar and grinned. They all looked similar; masks covering their faces, the same black cloak in various sizes were worn by these figures, and they all had that evil aura coming from them. Those masks all had various expressions that ranged from a smiling clown to an angered demon. The worst of them though was the tallest one; he was wearing a mask of what appeared to be a skull that still had some leftover skin from a face. It was only a mask, but that face of anguish looked so realistic that a five year old would cry if they saw it. It was safe to assume that they weren't nice. With a quick nod, the three entered the forest and began their hunt for Silica.

* * *

The beasts began their hunt the moment they smelled prey enter their territory. With their grey fur, ferocious eyes, and sharp fangs and claw, they were ready to kill all at any minute. They separated throughout the forest to better search for their prey. There were forty wolves in the pack, and they all had the intent to maim somebody. Whoever the person who encountered the first hungry beast could be very unlucky since they could attract the attention of many more people if they were caught in the act of murdering one of them. The wolves were ready to play their death game here and now and didn't care who it was, as long as they got their game in their stomachs, they would be good.

Silica was wandering through this green environment, completely lost and starving. She had not had anything to eat since this morning, and her hunger began getting the better of her. Of course, even if she did eat something, it wouldn't really feed her, her brain would just make her think that she was fed. In the real world, she would still be hungry unless someone was trying to feed her at the same time, which was highly unlikely. That thought was actually pretty scary…what was happening to her real body? There was no way that her body was in the same shape as it was before entering this world. So, did she get the necessary treatment to keep her body in shape or was she just barely surviving in the real world? No, that didn't matter right now, all that she had to focus on was survive and make it back to the real world.

Then it happened, the first wolf came from the bushes and charged towards Silica. The girl quickly got into position; her feet planted on the ground with her right arm folded in front of her face, dagger in hand. When the wolf was about to bear its fang and bite down on her skull, she quickly sidestepped and stabbed the dagger into its side before she took out a second dagger and repeated the process. In two hits, the wolf was dead and no longer in the server's programming. That was definitely more thrilling than killing the boars she had killed over a hundred times.

She continued on her way, but failed to notice that a cloaked figure wearing a mask of an angered demon was trailing her. If anyone could see the face he was hiding, they would immediately know that he was really struggling to hold himself back. If he had his way, the girl would have been attacked right there, but he knew that now wasn't the time to strike…that moment would come when his two partners were also surrounding her. For now though, he had to keep his inner demon from forcing him to kill the child here…he wanted to get his loot for doing this.

* * *

In the town of Tolbana, the guild of Fuurinkazan casually entered the place in hopes of attending the meeting to learn how to defeat the first dungeon's boss, but the six members were disappointed when they learned that the people who attended the meeting already departed to challenge the boss. Although they were all upset, it appeared that the leader and founder of the guild was the most upset. His rugged face and his pink hair gave him a thuggish look, but he was really a man that wanted to prove to an old friend that he had become stronger from his days as a beginner of the VRMMORPG genre.

"Yo, boss, what are we going to do now?" one of the members asked. He had a rope tied around his forehead as well as a small afro.

"No clue, all we really can do is wait for them to beat the boss," the man with pink hair answered, taking a seat on the ledge of the water fountain.

"You seem relaxed. Do you really have that much faith in them?"

The man had a huge grin on his face. "Not really, more like I think one guy can do it. I met him on the first day that the SAO servers came online. He taught me the basics and was with me when the death game started. I saw it in his eyes; he's going to go far…maybe he will be the one who frees us from this nightmare."

"Keep dreaming that Klein, we all know that Fuurinkazan will be the one to clear all one hundred floors first!" the man with the afro confidently told his leader.

"Yeah…you're right. We will conquer all! Though…we need to get to towns faster so we can get boss strategies," the man name Klein admitted as he was confronted by a man who looked to be around seventeen.

"Hello…what do you want with us? The man with the afro asked the outsider.

"My in-game name is Enigtio, and I'm looking for a man named Agil. Have any of you seen him?" the man asked. He had dirty blonde hair that made him look like he just got out of bed, forest green eyes, and a face that made him look like a battle hardened warrior despite the fact he had only been in this death game for two months. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt that was one sleeve half red and half blue while the rest of the top was completely blue under his armor, brown pants with boots of the same color, and a large broadsword strapped to his back.

"Sorry, I've never heard of the guy. You could ask around for some info, but I got nothing," Klein replied from his sitting position.

"…That's alright, thanks anyway," Enigtio said in response. He slowly walked away towards the town exit, most likely to continue his search for the one he had entered town to search for. While he wasn't happy that his efforts proved fruitless, he didn't show any signs that he was disappointed. What was going through that guy's mind? Why was he searching for a guy named Agil? Well whatever the reasons for these transactions were, one thing was clear; he wasn't giving up on his quest.

The sky began to turn grey as cumulonimbus clouds began to gather in the same area. It was a rarity in virtual reality since it was harder to imitate water, but there was always the chance of rain falling in the floating castle of Aincrad. Though, when it did actually rain, it usually meant that something bad was happening somewhere else. This weird feeling in Klein's stomach…it felt like something was going to happen to either Kirito or that girl that was with him…that feeling that you get when something terrible happens to someone you know, that was what Klein was feeling right now. Hopefully, it would just disappear…but what was causing it?

* * *

"The girl is in position, can we strike yet?"

"No…we have to wait for Kuradeel to arrive."

"Why are we killing her anyway? She's small fry, a little brat. We should be going after the best players right now; they have all the loot in the world."

"From what we were told by the boss, the girl is close friends with this guy named Kirito. Kirito is supposed to have this rare item somewhere in his inventory, so we kill her to get his attention. Plus, she's friends with a beta tester according to the boss; she's bound to have at least one rare item."

"Fine…I'll go with this for now. My sword still hungers for blood though. If I wait too long…I will stab you in the back…literally."

Silica's grinding expedition continued; twenty wolves had been killed so far and it looked like there was no end for the girl. She would not stop her grinding, despite the fact she had already gone up three levels. She thought…no, she knew that she could not lose. These wolves were definitely a tougher challenge than the boars she had fought previously, but they still were unable to do much harm to her. Piercing blow after piercing blow, the beasts kept on falling to the one with the dangerous implements of death in her hand. She would never lose in this game; she would kill every one of these creatures and survive all one hundred floors of Aincrad. This thought was what motivated Silica because she had the confidence to think it. She honestly thought that there was no chance that she could die, and that she would defeat every threat that came her way, and these wolves were proving her case.

Since the wolves just couldn't damage her, Silica's mind began to drift away and began focusing on other thoughts. The main thought on her mind was why did Kayaba trap them in this world. Why would someone be that insane to do something like trap ten thousand people in virtual reality and make them die for real if they died in-game? What was he going to gain from this exactly? If he was intending to keep all these players trapped forever, didn't he realize that he would be the one that got blamed for all the deaths and he would be executed for it? Did that matter to him at all, or was he doing it for the simple reason of he can?

The other thought in Silica's mind was…why were they trapped? To be honest, she was only showing everyone her confident side to hide the fact that she was a scared little girl inside. You would have to have an iron will if you weren't scared right now…and be almost god like to not be afraid if you were thirteen or under. The fear of dying and the fear of leaving Kirito…no, Kazuto alone was just too much for the girl to take in. She always tried to hide her fears and put on this charade of overconfidence to hide her true self so she wouldn't be a burden to Kazuto. This grinding expedition was a test to her; she would be ready to tackle anything in this world if she could survive an intense environment like this. That scared side inside her…she hoped it would be suppressed if she could actually do this, like all of her doubts would just disappear if she could defeat it right then and there. She wanted her overconfident side to be the only side of her…but could she actually rid it if she got through the Jungle of Claws?

Then, it happened. The three mysterious figures that had been trailing Silica decided to finally strike and jumped from the bushes. The shortest one, the figure wearing the clown mask, quickly grabbed the girl's arms and held them behind her back with the one wearing the devil mask tying them up, making her unable to move in the process. The final one, the figure that had the mask of a face that was mostly bones but had a part that looked like flesh hanging off slowly moved towards the girl and took out his sword, pointing it at the girl's face. He was ready to kill the girl, but he wanted to know a couple things before the blade went through her.

"Alright brat, listen up. Where the hell is the one known as Kirito?" the one wearing the creepiest mask questioned.

"Kuradeel, why are you doing this to me?! I want to see blood already!" the one wearing the demon mask shouted.

Kuradeel just grinned. "Come on, what's the point of just killing someone? You got to have some fun while doing it. You know that, HadesWoods."

"I know, but it's even more fun to smile while watching blood flow from the victim's body! Come on; let me stab one eye, that's all I ask of you!" Hades begged as he began jumping up and down.

"No, we have to get the info we need out of her first. Why am I the serious one?" the clown masked figured commented.

"Cool it Ya-mioh. We can enjoy ourselves, and get information. When you kill somebody, you don't just smile, you have to laugh too!" Kuradeel yelled with a sadistic smile.

"I'm tired of that crap, Kuradeel. The only reason why I don't kill you is because you are my superior. If we were of equal rank in _Laughing Coffin_, you would be losing blood from your forehead right now," the clown mask figure stated.

"You wouldn't be laughing though if you killed me right now. You'd panic because Hades would just report you to **him**. Killing isn't worth anything if you can't laugh while smiling." Kuradeel commented with his still evil smile.

"_Smiling while killing someone? It's only fun when you're laughing?! What is wrong with this people?" _Silica thought as she began feeling distraught from the things she heard.

People like these three actually existed. It was hard to believe, but she really was face to face with a serious guy, a sadistic killer, and a bloodthirsty criminal. Her heartbeat was accelerating, each beat making her more and more terrified inside her heart. She really didn't want to accept it, but she was unable to do anything. She was lying on the ground, hands tied behind her back, being held as a way to get information on Kirito. It wasn't hard to figure out, but Silica knew she was as good as dead once they got what they wanted to know about Kirito. This entire expedition…it was all pointless because she was able to do nothing in this situation. Tears began flowing down Silica's face…failure really did make her upset.

"Kirito…please help me." That plead in an unusually low voice was all that Silica could let out. She lied on the ground in despair, pinning all of her hopes on Kirito. She didn't want to do it, but she had to rely on her brother once again.

* * *

_"Beater, eh? I like the sound of that," Kirito coldly replied as he began to head out of the dungeon, accompanied by a massive amount of jeers. The only ones to not boo were Agil and Asuna, who saw what he was really doing. They both knew that he was willing to become the most hated player by becoming a beater to protect the other beta testers. Asuna decided that she wanted to talk to him, and find out why he did it though. Actually, she wanted to know one more important thing…how he figured out her name without telling him. She began running towards the boy, who stopped right front of the entrance to the boss room and turned to her._

_"If someone you trust asks you to join a guild, accept their offer. You're strong, but there's only so much a solo player can do alone," Kirito told her._

_"What about you?"_

_"…" There was no response._

_"Anyway, back there…you called me Asuna. How did you know my name?" the girl curiously asked._

_"You see that bar under your health bar? That's my health. Since we're in a party, we can see each other's life bars. That's how I knew," Kirito responded._

_"…Oh, that's how. I should have known that," Asuna responded. She began to giggle a little at the thought of not seeing an easy answer once again. She then looked under her name and studied the name. Kirito. She would definitely remember that one._

_"I hope to see you again." With that, Kirito opened up a box that asked if he wanted to disband his party. He pushed the circle button, which effectively disbanded the party. He walked out of the place, leaving Asuna at the entrance of the boss room alone._

* * *

An hour had passed since the confrontation with Illfang, and Kirito was not in the right set of mind. The black hair boy began running through the town of Tolbana, frantically looking for Silica. He had already checked the outskirts of town and the place that they were supposed to meet once she came back. This face of anguish, this whole 'missing Silica' thing was beginning to destroy Kirito in the inside. His little sister was missing, and he had no idea how to find her. If he wasn't fast enough, she could very well die! The only reason why he knew that she was still alive was because of the fact she was still on his friend's list. If she was dead, then her name would have disappeared. It was a blessing, but it was also a curse because there was no friend locator in SAO, which was rare these days in the MMO genre.

As Kirito continued his search, he failed to notice that someone was walking right in front of him. As most people would have expected from people in that situation, the boy bumped into the man and caused them both to fall on the ground. That encounter was exactly what Kirito needed to snap back into reality. He finally acknowledged the man in front of him and quickly helped him to his feet once he was standing in a vertical position.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," Kirito told the man as he scratched the back of his head.

"No no, it's perfectly alright. You seemed trouble. Looking for something?" the man asked.

Kirito did the observations he usually did when he met someone and began making comments about the person. He had brown hair tied in a ponytail with one strand hanging in front of his face, a white long sleeve shirt under leather chest armor, red pants, and a regular sword strapped to his back. He also had a regular build and was of average height. There was something ominous though…like he had an attractive aura around him.

"Oh…yes. I'm looking for my friend right now. She wasn't where we were supposed to have met or where she said she would be. I'm really worried."

"I see. I'm also searching for something important to me. However, it's not a person, it's something that's really important to me," the man told Kirito.

"What are you looking for exactly?" Kirito curiously questioned.

"…My memories. You see, unlike most people that came to Sword Art Online, I actually lost my memory when I entered this game. It might have had something to do with the brain transfer, but I just woke up on the fields with a blank mind. I guess full dive technology still has some bugs in it. I asked someone what happened and why I couldn't log out, and that's how I found out about the death game. Now…I'm fighting for my old life and this new one."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry for your loss," Kirito told the man as he felt guilty about asking about something personal like that.

"It's fine. I don't have any problems with telling people about it. By the way, you said you were searching for a girl correct? Did she have two ponytails, was wearing the default female gear, and looked to be thirteen by any chance?" the man asked, trying to help Kirito in any way.

"Oh, yeah! I believe that's her! Do you mind telling me where she is?!" the boy excitedly inquired.

"Not at all, I saw her enter the Jungle of Claws near the outskirts of the Town of Beginnings. This was over three hours ago though, so I have no idea if she is still there. I am really sorry for not being of so much help.

"No, you helped a great deal. Thank you so much!" the boy responded as he bowed his head.

"One more thing, so sorry if I am delaying you, but what is your name?"

"My mistake, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kirito. Do you know yours?"

"Heathcliff…that is all I know about myself. I apologize for talking for so long, but you should hurry up now."

"Oh, thank you! I promise to repay this someday." With that, Kirito began running towards the Jungle of Claws as Heathcliff watched from the distance. Little did they know, their fates were intertwined and they would meet once again someday.

* * *

The three cloaked figures continued to bicker amongst themselves while they continued to ignore the crying girl on the ground. For three people that were supposed to be on the same team and work together, they sure seemed to hate each other and not fit each other's personalities at all. While one was serious, all the other two cared about was killing and seeing the blood of their victims. They always argued and never worked on something with no good sense of teamwork seen anywhere in the work that they did. Why were they a team exactly?

Of course, the sanity or teamwork of these assholes didn't matter to Silica at all. She was tied up, unable to defend herself, and was going to die once they stopped bickering. While it seemed like she had an hour, she realistically only had around five minutes before they finally got to the main task of killing her. She had already stated time and time again that she wouldn't reveal any info about Kirito to them, so now they decided to kill her and were arguing about what method were they to use to kill her. It was clear, she was doomed and there was no way out unless Kirito came to save her…but it looked really unlikely at this point.

Then, a miracle in Silica's eyes occurred. When she finally accepted the fact she was going to die, a dagger appeared from the branches and landed right in the mask of Ya-mioh, stabbing right into his left retina. Three more daggers quickly followed and landed in his arms, draining his health bar more. As he was continuing to look for his assailant, two more dangers descended from the trees and finally depleted his health bar to zero, causing Ya-mioh to disappear in a burst of light. The other two masked figures panicked as yet another dagger came from the trees, which caused them to back away from Silica in an effort to hopefully get the mystery killer to stop targeting them.

"Please…Mr. Dagger Killer, spare us!" Kuradeel pleaded as he fell to his knees.

"Yes Master Dagssasin, please don't impale us! I have a wife and daughter waiting for me at home! They don't want me to do die!"Hades begged as he soon followed Kuradeel's example.

Kuradeel soon saw a small blade heading straight towards his eye, so he was able to look slightly up and get the weapon to stab him right under it. The pain though, it still made him faint and made a hole in the mask…a hole that could never remain hidden from **him**. That shame that he couldn't hide wasn't totally bad though, he was still able to live because he only fainted from that attack. Hades on the other hand, he was in twice as much trouble. Two daggers landed in the dead center of his eyes, causing him to cry out in pain. He angrily ripped the mask off and covered his face, though tears of blood could still be seen from the parts of his face that he couldn't cover. Soon after that, a new blade weapon landed right in the dead center of Hade's spine, causing him to fall on the ground. Finally, a dagger came flying from a different location as usual, and landed right in Hade's heart to finally deplete his health bar to nothing. He shattered into a cluster of light after he muttered an intangible curse to this mystery assailant.

Precision, that was the common theme with all of those dagger injuries. Whoever threw them had deadly accuracy, like the daggers were right on target and that they got into the area they were meant to go in. If there were guns or bows in this world, this person would be a sharpshooter and could have easily just killed all three of them with one shot. It's like the person had been practicing sniping and shooting with guns for years, and now their eyes adapted so that they could see all of the most precise locations to aim and fire. To say the least, if the person wasn't on her side, Silica would be dead in about ten seconds.

Fate was on the girl's side though, as a dagger landed right in front of her to signify that Silica wouldn't be killed. At least, that's what she guessed…hoped since she knew that the person throwing these things could easily just get her heart and kill her right there. So this was probably an intentional miss…and one she was grateful for. Though, she was shocked when she noticed a girl jumping from the trees. The girl that had jumped from the tree was wearing the same armor as Silica, the default female armor, except the one she was wearing was lime green in color instead of red. She had short black hair with two bangs hanging from the side of her face tied with each being tied to a white ribbon and calm purple eyes.

"Name's Sinon, I won't kill you if that's what you are afraid of," the girl told Silica, reassuring her and letting her relax a little. Sinon quickly untied Silica's hands, which led to the younger girl letting out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you very much, but do you mind telling me why you saved me?" Silica asked curiously.

"No reason really, I just don't like criminals I guess," Sinon replied with a serious tone.

"Oh…well, thank you anyway. My name's Silica."

"…I'll remember it. I hope we can meet again," the girl told Silica before walking away.

"_That was absolutely incredible. I didn't know you could even do those kinds of things with a dagger. I'm really weak…I still need to improve myself. I don't want to be saved again…I want to be able to defend myself…I want to be strong!" _That was the promise she made, and she wanted to make sure she kept it. From this day on, Silica would become a proud and powerful warrior…and she never looked back.

* * *

**A/N: I am sorry it took so long, I was kinda stumped on how to start it. Hope you enjoy anyway, and I apologize if Sinon is OOC in any way, I have yet to read past volume 3 of the Light Novel yet and GGO is sadly not an anime yet. Till next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4: The Budding Seeds of Love

_**This chapter is dedicated to the Fusionfall community; my first ever online community and the reason why I started writing fan fiction. You can rest in peace now that your duty to entertain fans of Cartoon Network is done. You may be gone, but you will never be forgotten.**_

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Sword Art Online series; all credit goes to Reki Kawahara for writing the light novel and A-1 Pictures for creating the anime. The only thing I take credit for is any OC I might include in this story._

**Chapter 4: The Budding Seeds of Love**

**WARNING: New OC approaching**

* * *

_January 13th, 2023_

_Floor 7: Darunia_

* * *

The warrior of the katana, the swordsman that could endure fifty storms, the ultimate disciplined samurai in SAO…all of these could be used to describe the leader of Fuurinkazan. The man that practiced Bushido, the way of the warrior, trained to become a stronger player since the two months the death game that Kayaba initiated was officially started. He was currently at level twenty-six, one of the higher leveled players in the game, but he was still behind the main army that cleared the floors of Aincrad. Right now, the army that was also known as Clearers had cleared up to Floor Thirty-Seven and were a whole twenty levels above Klein.

The Clearers were the elites of the game; the vast majority of them being from one of two factions. The first was the guild simply called _The Army_. They were made of players that agreed to share provisions, armor, and weapons equally throughout the game…they were made up of the desperate weaker players who were willing to do anything to get better armor or weapons since they would also get a share of the items they gave to the weaker people in Aincrad. While some of these people were shady and doing it for their own personal gain, most of the members of _The Army _were genuine and really cared about the many trapped victims of SAO. They were the good hearted people of the Clearers.

The second guild was the exact opposites of _The Army_. They were all greedy players that were willing to kill the guy that was supposed to be their ally for the item that they got from defeating a monster. They claimed to show unity by wearing the same silver armor as a uniform, but it was an obvious case of hypocrisy as almost every member hated one another. These players had no idea what the word _friendship _meant, and it was obvious they weren't willing to learn. They were not as bad as PKers, but they were pretty close as they were bipolar in their efforts to clear this game. One minute they would be determined to clear a floor, and then they would just want to grind for items the next. That was the way the second largest guild, the _Divine Dragon Alliance _operated.

The guild that Klein was the master of was a small group of around six people. They were all friends in real life, waiting at a midnight release of SAO together and all entering the death game at the same time. The reason why Klein decided to not accompany the _Beater _when he was given the opportunity was so that he could find his friends and help them like how the Beater aided him on the first day of Sword Art Online. Together, they had all survived the three months they had been in this virtual nightmare, and together they developed into a strong guild. Klein proved to be a strong leader, and his leadership would prove to be the main reason why Fuurinkazan were able to survive up to that point. Despite that though, he still felt weak compared to most people because he felt he needed help in everything he did in this world.

The stars began to shine as the sky began to turn from a calm and soothing orange to a more threatening and emotionless tint of blue. The sun was setting on another day of survival; this wasn't the first sunset to signify this in SAO and it wouldn't be the last. While it was something most people took for granted in the real world, seeing something so gorgeous in this world had more meaning because that moment might have been the last moment they ever saw. It could have been the last sunset they ever got to witness. People didn't appreciate the small things in life until a moment before it was going to be taken away.

Klein was one of those people, taking sunset for granted in the real world…but being trapped in virtual reality opened his eyes. People should love and care about every small thing about life, and feel the happiness that they thought didn't exist by appreciating those kinds of things before they were gone…before they felt empty from a lack of something in their life. That was what Klein decided to do; if he ever made it out of this hell, he would learn to love things like sunset or the sounds of the ocean. He would never think that something would always be there, because he learned that anything could be taken away from him in an instant. Yes, he would change…change for the better.

* * *

_Floor 29: Saria_

* * *

"Kazuto…how do you think Suguha is doing right now? You know she has to be worried about you, being her brother and all," Silica asked from her lying position on a bed inside of an inn.

It was hard for people who knew Kazuto in real life to believe it, but he had an actual sister besides his close friendship with Silica. No, it was an actual blood-related, same mother and father as him sister. Despite being siblings, they had a strange relationship that made people question if they were related at all. While it was obvious that they didn't hate each other, it was equally apparent that they didn't share the bond that most siblings do. It felt like they were from two different worlds that prevented them from ever understanding each other. No matter how hard he tried, Kazuto just couldn't figure out why he couldn't connect with his sister…and then he found someone that understood him in Keiko.

As much as it hurt her to admit it, Keiko knew that she was a major reason why Kazuto's relationship with Suguha was as bad as it was. Unlike Suguha who knew nothing about the world that Kazuto was a part of, Keiko was able to connect with him because she also couldn't connect with her sibling, a baby sister in her case. She escaped into the world of MMOs to avoid the faithful day that she thought would come…the day her sister betrayed her trust and tried to hurt her. She just couldn't accept her new baby sister, so Keiko went and found a new person she could understand in Kazuto. She knew Suguha wasn't a hateful person…but Keiko felt like she had a secret spite for her because of this friendship with Kazuto.

"Hey, Keiko, are you alright? A voice asked the girl, snapping her back to reality.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was just doing some thinking." Keiko quickly turned her head to look at Kazuto…Kirito. She just remembered; this was SAO. There was no Kazuto Kirigaya or Keiko Ayano in this world. Instead, they were the players Kirito and Silica. It was pointless to think about the warm thoughts of home because they wouldn't return until someone conquered all one hundred floors of Aincrad.

"Don't worry, I'm here. I promise to not let anything happen to you while you're sleeping. Go ahead and close your eyes."

That reassurance was all she needed. As the last remaining colors of the sky began to darken, Silica's eyelids changed the world around her into a dark and colorless area that would have to wait for eight hours to come back to life. Finally, she was able to fall asleep peacefully, lying on the grass as her closest friend she considered her brother watched over her. Within five minutes, her body began to ignore all sounds and turned her senses off to allow her to have a peaceful slumber.

"She's asleep, so get out now. I know you've been watching us," Kirito demanded. He slowly turned his head to look for some kind of life that was apparently hiding in the area. He couldn't see them, but Kirito knew that somebody was there thanks to the combination of his Night Vision and Tracking abilities. When he turned around, he saw a figure run from one bush to another and he was able to figure out which bush they were hiding in.

"Impressive, you were able to see your Straight-Edge Messiah in this dark forest. You must also be a follower of the Straight-Edge lifestyle," a childish voice retorted. A few seconds later, a boy, no older than thirteen came out of the bush and stood triumphantly, as if he won the Nobel Prize or something.

"Straight-Edge? Isn't that when you don't drink, smoke, or do drugs?" an expression of rage took over the previously calm and collected look on the boy's face.

"Of course it is, are you an idiot or something?!"

"Aren't you like ten? Don't you have to be straight-edge since you shouldn't be doing any of those things anyway?" the boy standing in front of Kirito was about to explode from anger.

"Shut up! Even if I was fifty, I'd still be straight-edge! My hero, CM Punk, has made me see the light!" the boy yelled, causing the sleeping Silica to turn a little before she returned to her peaceful slumber.

"Quiet, she's trying to sleep." The nearly silent voice of Kirito plus his finger pressed against his lips was the perfect signal to make sure the boy wasn't yelling anymore. "Who are you exactly?"

"My name is KD Rebel. I based the name off CM Punk since, you know, I'm a huge fan of him."

To be honest, Kirito had little idea about this person KD was talking about. The only thing he knew about the guy was that he was a wrestler in some company in America and that he was often labeled as the best wrestler in the world. He didn't want to make the kid mad of course, otherwise he would wake Silica up, and that wasn't something Kirito wanted to do. So he decided to just pretend like he knew who he was talking about. That's probably the wisest move in this situation, though there could be trouble if KD found out that he really didn't know about CM Punk.

"My name's Kirito and this is Silica," Kirito told the boy, pointing at the sleeping girl who was lying there peacefully still. "So, why were you following us?"

A flash of red appeared on KD's face as he opened his mouth. "Oh…um…how do I put this? Uh…I saw Silica fight boars so beautifully and…kind of fell in love with her. I followed you guys so that I could talk to her."

Kirito chuckled a little after that confession. If Silica was awake, he knew that she would have turned red and inch behind him out of embarrassment. He needed a good laugh after the hard endeavors he had gone through in the first months of this game of death. He knew that if you let your guard down at all, you would be dead in this world, but it was good to let out a good laugh and have a joyful experience every once and awhile.

"Sorry, but that was funny. On a serious note though, I don't think you're her type," Kirito admitted. While most people would have been upset by that, KD had a bigger look of confidence on his face now. Kirito actually smiled a little when he saw that the young child didn't lose hope, but instead appeared to have gained confidence from the truth.

"I can accept that. Besides, it's boring if the girl I love just liked me for no reason. I want to convince her to like me." The confidence in KD's voice…he was really convinced that he could get Silica to like him.

While some people would think the kid was stupid for holding on to this kind of false hope, Kirito couldn't help but admire him. He never met anyone this determined before, and maybe he never would again. All he knew was that he was going to root for the kid now; he really wanted KD to have a chance at happiness. A smile crept onto Kirito's face, and he began to laugh again. "I'm willing to help, since you remind me of my sister."

"Should I be insulted by that?" the kid quickly moved closer to Kirito as if he was ready to kill him if he said the wrong thing.

"No no, I didn't mean it in a bad way. It's just, my sister is as dedicated to kendo as you are to get Silica to like you. You two actually have a lot in common," Kirito responded, putting his hands up in front of his face as a sign of not meaning any harm.

"Do you honestly think I have a chance with Silica?" KD asked out of curiosity.

"I do…but it's going to take a long time, just don't give up." A huge smile began to form on KD's face, one that made Kirito even happier. As the two sat in the dark night of the world, it felt like an admiration for the other passed between them. "If you want, you can travel with us for awhile."

"…Thank you, Brother Kirito!" KD cheerfully responded, with an annoyed look from the older boy shortly following.

That name…Kirito hated it, but he decided to just laugh it off as this was the beginning of a friendship. Years ago, he would have just pushed the boy aside and keep him away from Silica…now, things were different though. It was like the time spent here helped him open up to people, and that it would help him even more. Maybe being trapped in this world wasn't such a bad thing after all.

* * *

_January 14__th__, 2023 _

_Floor 19: Raruru _

* * *

The sun was up by the time Lisbeth was up and looking around for materials. She had decided what she wanted to do for all the players that were risking their lives to conquer Aincrad; she was going to become a blacksmith and forge weapons for all of them. To make mighty weapons that anybody would be proud to wield, that was all Liz needed in order to feel useful in this death game. She wasn't very strong, but the girl didn't want to be a burden…so she searched and searched until she finally found something she could do in order to help the cause. That was why she was in this mountainous region of land searching for raw material to use to create metals that could create a fine weapon.

Mt. Inferno was one of the mountains in an unusual range of rocks where the highest point of each piece of the crust of this world reached thousands of feet above the sea level. While it was still shorter than some of the other mountain in the area, it was easily the most diverse of the bunch. It was the only volcano out of the various natural monuments that stood side by side, but it was also the most valuable when it came to resources being stored in an area. That's why Liz came here, the metals she could find here would prove invaluable in the weapons she could possibly make…she could very well make the weapon that the person who cleared all of Aincrad using the materials she found here.

The place was a dangerous area for anybody that decided to enter it unprepared. With valuable materials that could be used to make amazing weapons, there was bound to be guards in order to protect them, and there were. The protectors to the various ores that could be found in Mt. Inferno were known as Inferknites, rock creatures that were able to withstand magma from the volcano's inside. They were the only threat though, and anybody that was above level fifteen could conformably defeat the Inferknites…so someone like Liz could easily handle those things. Of course, there was also the fact that the mountain range Mt. Inferno was a part of a death trap that wanted you dead the moment you slipped up.

"Hello Miss, I think it would be best if you didn't try this alone." A tall figure wearing a cloak suddenly appeared behind the girl, and caused her to move a few inches back out of shock. Out of fear, Liz quickly took out her weapon, the blunt hammer. While it was advised to use a bladed weapon like a sword or dagger, there were two options for people that refused to use them. The first one was using no weapon at all, also known as hand to hand combat. For people that were experts in that department, it was perfect for them…sadly almost none of the players fit that description so they didn't do that option most of the time.

"Hey stalker, move the hell away from me before I crack your ribs," Lisbeth threatened. A fierce flame could be seen in her eyes…a look that showed she was out for blood. In her hands was the weapon she chose to wield in SAO, the second choice for players that didn't want to use a bladed weapon…the war hammer. It wasn't as efficient as a sword, but it was definitely not a joke weapon like some people would suggest it was. No actual technique was needed in order to use it, so maybe that was why Lisbeth decided to use it. That hammer could still kill things though, and was real close as the owner was about five seconds from performing that task on the mysterious figure. "Now, who are you?"

"Hold it, I come in peace. The name's Enigtio. I'm only looking for someone named Agil, but he's not here apparently."

Even with his motive now known, Liz didn't let her guard down. She continued to hold her hammer in a position that could easy lead to cracked ribs in the body of this _Enigtio_ character. She didn't trust him, and she probably wouldn't unless he decided to just walk away. However, there was something that made her feel so…safe around him. She studied the man, and made her observations that she thought fit the description of him perfectly. He had messy blond hair that gave the impression that he was a slob, as well as his forest green eyes giving him a facial expression that could make people think that he just woke up from a nap. Her initial expression of him wasn't good…in fact; it was pretty terrible to be honest. To her, this Enigtio guy was a slob who didn't know how to clean himself up and was probably incapable of doing anything…yet she was impressed that someone like him was able to survive in this area alone. Deciding he wasn't going to be a threat, she put her weapon away and just gave him an angry stare.

"Why are you talking to me exactly?"

"I don't want to see a cute girl like you get hurt."

"I don't need your concern; I can take care of myself just fine." Sure, that's what Liz told him, but she was thinking something different. She was touched that he called her a cute girl because she surprisingly didn't get that very much.

"I can feel that…it's just that I don't want to let you walk into harm without knowing what to expect." The words from this man's mouth, they made Liz hate and like him even more for some reason she couldn't figure out. She had to see more of him…what was he like and what were his real motives.

"If that's the case, do you want to go with me?" she curiously asked.

"It would be my honor," Enigtio replied. With that answer, the two began heading towards the slab of rock that would be where their journey together began…the resource search in Mt. Inferno finally entered its initial stage.

* * *

_Floor 29: Saria_

* * *

With a little yawn and arm stretch, the young Silica awakened from eight hour slumber. With the rays of light getting into her eyes, she rubbed her pupils with her right hand as two boys were chatting not very far away from her. Once she actually gave the two a glance, she recognized the first boy as Kirito since his black clothing theme belonged to him alone in this world right now. The second boy though, Silica had never met him before. She wondered who he was, and more importantly, how was he able to get a friendly conversation out of someone like Kazuto.

There were few traits that made the boy stick out. He was of short stature, and his face had completely normal features other than the fact that his eyes were two different colors. They were calm, but the fact one eye was a tint of blue that gave off an ice cold stare while the other was a golden color was one that gave off a similar form of stare was still a little frightening to the girl. Despite that though, his eyes showed that he wasn't a bad person in her opinion.

Other than those eyes, he had a fairly average appearance. He was still wearing the default armor, with his long sleeve shirt being yellow and his boots having a slightly more detailed fur texture. His brown spiked hair reflected sunlight as she began to look over at him one more time. This time, she noticed something different about him. This time, she felt an aura of safety around him…an aura she had only previously seen come from Kazuto.

"Morning, Ms. Sleepyhead." The boy chimed as he sheathed his sword back into its case.

A yawn came out of the thirteen year old child's mouth before words did. She slowly got on her feet as she walked over to sit near the two. "Who…are you?"

"The name's KD. Kirito helped me out last night while you were asleep. Thought I should repay the favor by helping you guys out for awhile, so I'm going to be partying with you for awhile." The boy looked to the sky before returning his focus to the girl he liked. He wasn't going to tell her, not yet anyway. "By the way, you sleep talk. I found out some…interesting things about what you think about Kirito."

"Wha-wha-wha-what?!" Silica's face turned red as she began to back away a little. Someone had actually heard her dream about Kazuto? How embarrassing! "How much did you hear?"

"Haha, he's just teasing. I just told him to say that because I wanted to see you brighten up," the older boy admitted from his sitting position as a smile grew on his face.

"Geez, thanks. What are we doing today anyway?" Anger was still in her voice. If they weren't careful, Silica would kill both Kirito and KD.

"Well, Kirito wanted to meet up with some guy named Agil, right?"

"Yeah; he has a shop on the thirtieth floor based off what my source told me and I never got to thank him for something he did a long time ago."

"Well then, let's go," Silica commented as she stepped in between the two boys. The beginning of adventure was now here. The trio, with a feeling of happiness and joy spreading to each other walked side by side on the path, the path that would lead to their first battles as a team.

* * *

Crack! The rock armor of an Inferknite cracked from the strength put behind the hammer swing of 'Lisbeth' Shinozaki Rika. As the pieces of armor began to shatter and fall off its body, the big two handed sword of Enigtio appeared in its line of sight and cut its now bare body in half. A clean cut eliminated the creature, well a clean cut that was created thanks to the teamwork that the two people could muster up despite the fact one of them didn't exactly trust her partner. She was still cautious of this Enigtio guy, and he had done nothing to make her ease those suspicions. She wanted to find out more about him…but the only way to do that was to actually talk to him.

The inside of Mt. Inferno was terribly hot. The place was about as close to a volcano without out it being a volcano as a natural creation could be. There wasn't any molten rock, but it still had the heat and danger feeling that a volcano emulated. The only reason anyone would want to go in that place was the materials they could get for making weapons. There was no other reason to go in there, so why would someone like Enigtio even consider going here?

The two were walking through the caverns before the man stopped in place. "So, why are you here exactly Ms…"

"Liz. You can call me Liz. I'm here searching for ore and any other metals I can find." There was no reason to lie about that. After all, he couldn't possibly use that information against her. Her idea was that he would tell her why he was here, but it didn't work out like that exactly. He took a deep breath as he stopped in place.

"I guess it's only fair I tell you why I'm here. I'm looking for someone…someone I owe a great debt to. I thought I could find him here in his search for rare items. Looks like I was wrong though…but I did find something else."

That caused Lisbeth to grow curious. What could he have found in this place that made it okay to not find what he originally wanted to find? "What would that be?"

"A decision that I don't think I can possibly regret. I want to be your friend," Enigtio told her with a smile on his face. Those eyes told a tale of happiness. He was dead serious about his proclamation; he really wanted to be her friend. She really didn't know what to do now.

"Wow…I really don't know what to say." That was the best response Liz could come up with. She had always wanted to meet a special boy she could keep close to her heart, and maybe that was Enigtio's role in her life. On the other hand, what if he was making this entire thing up? She knew two boys that pretended to like her, but they ended using her to get closer to Yuuki Asuna. In the end, Liz was left with a feeling of solitude as neither of the boys really cared about her. This was different though. She knew that he was genuine with his offer though…that he meant it. To get closer to someone only to get hurt, was it worth it? "…Okay. I misjudged you earlier. You really seem to be a kind boy. Are you an adult by any chance?"

A small chuckle came out of the boy's mouth before he walked closer to Liz. "Nope, I just turned sixteen if December passed not too long ago."

"What a coincidence, I did too! My birthday was last week actually."

"Well, we should celebrate once we're done here." That smile was really beautiful in Liz's mind. She made the right choice to let him closer in her mind.

* * *

In the main town of the twenty-ninth floor, things were normally calm. People were willing to cooperate as well not break into random fights over petty things. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case on this day two males that looked to be in their thirties began to argue before punches were thrown. This was becoming more and more common throughout the floating castle. People grew aggressive towards one another and decided to fight one another for the most random reasons imaginable. On the twenty-fourth floor only a week ago, two girls were fighting over the fact that one of them used up the last of the hot water in their makeshift home. That wasn't a joke either; those two girls were willing to kill each other despite the fact that the feeling of hot water wasn't even that soothing in SAO. Really, people were becoming more stupid as the game of survival continued to grow longer.

Of course, the reason they were brawling wasn't the dilemma at the moment. The real problem was deciding how to end it. If they were to be separated, they could easily get past the people acting as barricades since an angered man was something that were very hard to contain. The only ways this fight would be stopped was if either one of them were knocked out, or if they both got overpowered by another individual.

Wanting to prove himself to Silica, the young KD stepped up to the plate and attempted to break up the fight. He pounded his chest as he confidently walked up to the scuffle to show that he was sure that he would be able to stop this tragedy. His two different colored pupils stared at his target as more people began to gather around. They were either going to see the most impressive child in this game, or they were going to see a boy land flat on his face in his failed attempt at stopping the fight. Sure enough, the later happened and the crowd roared in laughter as they continued to let the actual brawl to commence.

Kirito shook his head as a sign of annoyance as he began to go for his attempt at stopping it. His companion was just humiliated, and he wasn't going to let that slide. However, someone beat him to the punch as a bald African-American man appeared in between the two. The boy stopped as the two fighters began to back off and run away for the area. The one to break up the fight wasn't KD or Kirito. The one who broke up the melee was Agil, the man that the trio had come to town for in the first place.

KD felt both embarrassed and ashamed at the moment. Not only was he laughed at by a group of at least thirty people, he was knocked down in a humiliating manner right in front of his crush. What did Silica think about that? Did she think she was a weenie because he couldn't break up a fight? Did she consider him a weakling because he was knocked down real easily? Those thoughts were racing through KD's mind as he failed to notice the fact that he was mindlessly staring at Silica. Love made you do some stupid things, and this was just another example of that, that's for sure.

"What are you looking at me for?" The girl curiously asked.

The boy's jaw dropped as he finally realized what he was doing and looked away. "N-n-nothing! I was just daydreaming and you just happened to be in the direction I was staring in."

"So what's that drool puddle for?"

"Wait, what?!" KD questioned in fear. Did he seriously just drool not only in public, but in front of the girl he liked?

"Just kidding," Silica playfully told him. She had a mischievous smile on her face as she continued to look at the boy across from her. "Just thought I should get back at you from this morning."

As the cheerful banter between the two children went on, Kirito and Agil were sitting at a separate table from them. They were in a small tavern, one of the various recovery stations in SAO. If anyone ate here, they would regain all their health in a matter of seconds. Likewise, their stats would go up for a little bit before returning to their normal numbers if they drank something there. Of course, it was also a good place to just kick back and tell a story of adventures or meet some new friends to just have a meal that filled the idea of hunger their brains simulated.

None of those things happened in the area that Kirito and Agil were sitting in. A depressing atmosphere was over the two as Kirito grew a look of regret on his face. His fist connected with the wooden table as Agil observed the expression of lament that the boy was feeling over what he had just been told. He stood up and grabbed his sword from the seat next to him as he walked over to the two children he was in charge of. He was going to regret what he was going to do next, but it was necessary since he had a goal to accomplish.

Without even looking at them, he touched both of their shoulders as he looked to the door. "You two stay here with Agil. I'm going to be gone for awhile."

"What are you going to do and when will you be back?"

"I really don't know. It could be a day, a week, or even months." His eyes began to lose more focus on the world and instead leading him closer to a state of mind where he could ignore the world around him. "I have to look have to find someone that I wronged near the start of the game. I'm going to look for Asuna."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the wait people, I got busy with other stories and I start school real soon so I wanted to get as much done as possible…which might show that I rushed this chapter a little, but oh well, I can fix it later. I also have a question for everyone (I can't think of an actual poll for this since this isn't really a multiple choice question): Other than Leafa, Sinon, and Eugene, what character that wasn't in Sword Art Online would you like to see (No, this is not for a harem. You are allowed to say male characters too.)**


	5. Chapter 5: Yamata

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Sword Art Online series; all credit goes to Reki Kawahara for writing the light novel and A-1 Pictures for creating the anime. The only thing I take credit for is any OC I might include in this story._

**_Yamata Saga: Part 1_**

**Chapter 5: Yamata**

**WARNING: New OC's approaching**

* * *

The twenty-ninth floor of Aincrad's main city was Saria, 'The City of the Forest'. The city was a beautiful place, filled with many greenhouses and tress to show the plants they were capable of growing in the environment. With all of the grass and flowers growing on the sides of the road, it really was a city that was in the forest.

The sunlight was gone, now replaced by the silver light that the moon could reflect thanks to the sun rays that bounced off the rock. The stars were shining a beautiful tone of silver as KD Rebel stared at the numerous dots of light in the atmosphere that Aincrad tried to imitate. The boy closed his eyes as he recalled the news from earlier today that Brother Kirito dropped on both him and Silica. He was going to leave them here while he searched for someone named Asuna. His first friend in SAO…he disappeared just like that, but that meant that he had to watch over Silica now.

The girl he liked…she was his responsibility to protect now. That was both the greatest and worst thing to ever happen to him. The opportunity of being the person she relied on the most at this time and the one in charge of keeping her safe…that was a golden chance for someone that liked her. However, that also meant she could see him in his weakest states. When he's crying, when he's depressed, she would be able to see it all.

"He trusted me with her…I wish I had the same confidence in myself that Brother Kirito has in me."

KD sat in solitude on the rooftop of Agil's temporary shop to observe the moon that Aincrad tried to copy. For the most part, it did a very good job with the only really bug being the fact that it was always a full moon instead of changing the way the moonlight reflected. The trees looked amazing in the night, with a silver tint coming off of them that really brought out their inner beauty. The lighting of this town really was the reason why so many people chose to make shops or live here. All of the gorgeous lights combined with the plants blending in with the buildings made the place absolutely stunning. This was a sight that two people observed instead of one that should be observed alone.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit with you?"

The boy turned around to notice Silica standing behind him. He was glad it was night out because his face lit up a little when she asked to sit with him. He looked back to his original target of the sky as he nodded. "I don't mind."

Silica took her seat beside KD and observed the same stars and sky that he was staring at. A smile grew on her face as she inched closer towards the boy. She slowly turned her head towards him and noticed the look of happiness on his face. She grew a small smile on her face when she saw that, and decided to just look back at the silver lights. "They sure are pretty tonight."

"Yeah…I wish I could grab one and give them to my mom as a present. I'm sure she would love it." The eyes of KD focused on one particular star as he extended his arm in order to grasp it. As expected, he didn't grab anything and just closed the palm before looking over it. "We're really trapped in this game, aren't we? I'm not stuck in some horrible dream…this is actually happening."

The smile on Silica's face quickly disappeared as she sat there trying to think of an answer. They were trapped there, but it wasn't provable unless someone died…but no one was brave enough to try the since the first two months passed. She turned towards the boy when she finally came up with an answer she was willing to tell him. "We are, and we will be until someone clears SAO. Sometimes I wish this was a dream and that I could just wake up from this scary nightmare."

"I wouldn't call this a nightmare exactly. I met some really cool people that I will cherish forever, and that doesn't happen in nightmares." The boy looked at Silica before returning his focus to the sky. "I'm at the very least grateful to SAO for letting me meet those cool people."

"I think it really helped Kirito too. He used to be a closed person that wouldn't talk to anyone but me...now he's not afraid to let people in," Silica began before she grew a scared expression on her face. She released her two pigtails, letting her brown hair down before she took a deep breath. "I don't know what it has done for me though. I'm scared to see what it has in store for me too...I don't want to face it."

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid either, but ever since meeting you...I've felt so much better. As long as you're by my side, I think things are going to be alright. Despite that fact though, I'm still scared out of mind. The dark horizon, the fear of death, and even just losing someone...I can't accept that, I just can't."

He felt a warm felling in his hand as tears flowed down his face. Through those eyes, he saw the hand of Silica in his own hand. He began to form a small smile as she gave him an encouraging look that told him to not give in. Everyone had that fear in their hearts, and he was scared enough to shed tears…but he could overcome it if he believed in the people around him. "Don't worry about any of that. I promise, we will all make it back, and I'll be here to help you and hold your hand if you ever need someone to be by your side."

"Thanks Silica, I really appreciate it."

"Just call me Keiko, if it makes you feel more comfortable."

"Alright, and you can call me Kaito if you want. That's my real name, thought I should tell you that since you told me yours."

"Kaito huh, that's a nice name. I'll remember that," Keiko told him as she tightened the grip of her hand. The two looked up at the same stars as the night continued to pass by. Hope, that's what they searched for, and they might have just found it in each other.

* * *

When the dawn of a day arrived, Kaito awakened from his slumber on the roof and noticed Keiko's head resting on top of him. They must have stayed out for too long or something because he had no other idea to know how that happened. Whatever the reasoning, he was glad that she was safe in his arms. He hoped that this would be more common in his future, and that Keiko was the one in his arms. A simple crush that he had developed jut because of seeing her kill wolves turned into an actual love…he needed her in his life now. He smiled as he noticed the sleeping Keiko move her head and woke up. As she looked up, her face turned red and she quickly moved out of Kaito's arms and near the door that led back into the building.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen," Keiko apologized as she began waving her hand to fan off the sweat coming down her face.

_"Well crap, that wasn't supposed to be how she responded!"_ A sad look on Kaito's face appeared as he began to overreact with tears of sorrow. This would be a hard thing to get used to while Brother Kirito wasn't around.

* * *

The winds blew throughout the town as a serious Kaito admired the new garments that he was able to buy cheap from the merchant known as Agil. No longer forced to wear the default armor, the boy was now equipped with a purple jacket with one sleeve and a white fur texture around the collar new black pants and boots. He unsheathed his new sword and took a glance at its fineness before carefully returning it into its case. That was going to be his trusted weapon for the next couple months, and he was proud of it.

As he looked at the gathering clouds, Kaito noticed white particles descend from the sky. It was January, so it wasn't really odd that Aincrad was getting snow. The cold weather might be bad for the plants on this floor, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in Kaito's eyes. He looked outside the window and observed all the people walking down the streets. He hoped that one day that Keiko and him could be like that, but it would take awhile if she got embarrassed easily whenever she had a tender moment with him.

As he let his mind wander and think about his hopes of the future, Kaito failed to notice that the girl he liked walked behind him and was watching the boy. A smirk grew on her face as she got a fun idea on how to surprise KD. Keiko carefully covered his eyes with her hands to not get detected before then, and like expected, Kaito was surprised and fell out of his chair and lost his train of thought. She began chuckling as the boy tried to get up.

"Not funny! I was scared that you were gonna kidnap me or something!" KD's face grew red as he continued to look embarrassed at this turn of events. Still though, at least Keiko was in a joking mood after what happened when they woke up earlier in the morning. "Anyway, I guess you got new clothes too."

The girl nodded in response as she took a seat in the booth of the shop they were in that Kaito was sitting at. Keiko was now wearing a black shirt with a yellow robe and iron armor over it with matching yellow boots and black shorts. Her brown hair was in its usual style of two pigtails, but they were tied with regular red ribbons without the braids that accompanied it. Despite the new attire, Keiko still looked like the same girl as always. "Yep, and I really like them. I'm glad they're long sleeves too, because it's freezing without them."

"Yeah, but I just don't want to sit around. Why don't we do a quest today?" Kaito requested as he jumped back onto his feet.

"Sure, I don't care. What did you have in mind?" Keiko wondered as she stood up from the booth. She didn't get an answer from him though; all he did was smirk at the idea of a quest that he wanted to do. He took out a piece of paper and placed it on the table so that Keiko could see what it was. After reading it over, she smiled and nodded as her answer. They were going to hunt down a _Lone Wolf Demon_.

* * *

Day two of Liz' and Enigtio's travels through Mt. Inferno began similarly to their first day of their journey. They hadn't discovered anything yet, and the girl's frustration was beginning to show. She looked irritated when she couldn't find any materials in the first floor of Mt. Inferno, and the second floor wasn't yielding much more success. Still though, she was willing to continue this dangerous expedition through the mountain for those materials. She wasn't going to leave this area without them, or this whole expedition would have been pointless.

If there was one bright spot in this so far not successful mission, it would have to be Enigtio in Lisbeth's eyes. Despite the fact she had treated him harshly when she first met him, she grew to appreciate the friendship he continued to give her and was glad he was there with her. Still though, he had this quality that really pissed her off, but Liz couldn't figure it out...and she could honestly care less at this point. Enigtio was a friend she always wanted to be by her side and would be miserable if he were to disappear. She thought she had closed her heart from others, but that wasn't the case apparently as she had a second person she could consider a friend in her life now.

The dirty blonde boy smiled from his sitting rock as Liz awakened from her slumber. He had a small ocarina in his hand as he began playing a cheerful tune on his instrument to brighten up the mood. For the next two minutes, the soothing sound of the ocarina echoed in the mountain as all the people in the location became calm and relaxed. He was one of the few people that decided to raise the _Music _trait, as it wasn't really helpful in battle…but it was definitely something that brought up morality.

"That's a cute little song. Does it have a name?"

The face of the musician smiled once he finished his song and took the instrument out of his mouth. "I call it _Ocean's Crash_ because I played it while the waves were crashing on the beach by my mom's house."

"You're a musician in real life too? I wish I could play an instrument like you can…maybe you can teach me even!"

A quiet chuckle came out of Enigtio's mouth as he put his instrument away and looked over to Liz. "I'd like that a lot. I definitely will teach you, just let me tell you a place to come by first." Those two had no idea that they were being followed right now.

* * *

Standing side by side at the gate into Saria, the kid duo of Silica and KD Rebel awaited for the noon bell to ring…the moment that happened, that's the most opportune time to begin the hunt for the _Lone Wolf Demon_. The snow intensified as the boy now wearing a grey cloak eagerly awaited for the time to pass. The smile on his face was huge because not only was this an exciting quest, but it was the first quest he was going to complete with Silica. Who wouldn't be pumped up by the fact that their crush was going to help them?

The bell eventually tolled, and the two ran off into the great wilderness of the virtual world in search of their target. As each snow flake descended from the sky, the two continuously looked at nothing but the direction right in front of them. They were focused now...a level of focus that was very uncommon in children their ages. Kaito was out to prove something; he was out to prove to Silica that he was a capable warrior that could be as strong as Brother Kirito. This was his chance to prove he's now ready to accept responsibility and that he was no longer afraid to protect the both of them. This was his time to shine!

KD's heart skipped a beat when he saw the horrifying scene of a dying player breathing deeper and faster in the snow. There were hundreds of knives near his body, all thrown with the idea of making a symbol...a symbol that was on the player's face in the form of a scar as well as the remaining white snow in the bloodbath made the same insignia. The two children walked up to him and finally realized that the symbol spread all throughout the scene was the kanji for metal. Whoever did it had a fascination for the element as it was clear that they used metal to kill it.

As they continued to inspect the scene of the crime, the player slowly began to stand up until he made it to a ninety degree angle. He was in terrible condition, that's for sure. It was obvious that once he finished talking, he would fall dead and disappear. Still though, he made a loud noise that signified to the children to gather around him because he was still living. He took a deep breath as he held his head in pain. "Thank god…someone was actually able to find me this deep in the forest.

"You're alive still?! Who did this to you?" a worried KD questioned as he began to knee by the dying player's side.

"I didn't see who…but this resembled something a certain guild does when they're killing people…this was the work of…Yamata." More blood was coughed up by the man as he continued to talk. He was going to die pretty soon.

"Don't talk! You gotta save your breath so you can make it back to the…"

"Stop with your orders. I'm a goner, but I can save other people's lives if I can tell you everything I know about Yamata. So shut up and let me finish!" the man demanded as KD grew silent. Once regaining his composure, he looked back at the kanji for metal in the snow. "Yamata is a guild that consists of…eight of the deadliest players in the game. They all have…an affiliation with an element…as shown by the fact the kanji for metal…is all around me…and the kanji for water was found…on the ground…that another got killed in. The only other…known thing about them…is that they never meet each other…they only attack someone alone. They're…extremely danger…" a tomahawk came from the trees and nailed the man in the head and forced him to disappear.

The two could hear rumbles in the trees surrounding them until they saw a figure jump from the branches and land right in front of the bloodbath that was around the dying player. His back still facing KD and Silica, he slowly picked up the instrument used to commit the act of murder and carved the kanji for metal into a new area of the crimson pool. As the figure finally turned to face the two, he began to laugh at the sight of these two brats being the ones that were warned to kill them. His long sea green hair blew in the air as KD began to take out his sword. "You're going to defeat Yamata? That's hilarious kiddies! You'd be lucky to even be on equal footing with Lomix."

Silica quickly stepped in front of KD and took out her dagger. "You killed an innocent player; we will put an end to you and Yamata!"

A huge smirk grew on the murderer's face as e began to laugh once again. Once he seized his laughter, he returned his focus to the two. "That's the spirit kiddy, go ahead and make death threats! I'll wipe the floor with you still, but at least you have ambition." Hearing more sounds from the trees; the man jumped out of the way and avoided four knives that were going to nail him in the head if he hadn't dodged.

"You got me, my cover's blown now." Coming down from the trees, the attacker was revealed to be a familiar face to Silica. The one who had saved her from Laughing Coffin…it was Sinon.

"Ah, how've you been Aunt Shino? You like that present I left you last time we met?" the man sarcastically asked before beginning his laughter again.

"Izumi…no, Baou, you killed an innocent girl while posing as a member of Laughing Coffin. I can't forgive you...I refuse to acknowledge you as my nephew any longer. You are just another no good piece of scum now. I WILL kill you if we fight now," an enraged Sinon replied before staring down Baou with her rage-filled eyes.

"Those eyes," Baou started before taking out a teleporting crystal. "Bring them when our destined occurs, Aunt Shino."

There was dead silence for the following twenty minutes once the light that teleported the sea green hair man disappeared from the scene. Each person there was in deep thought about Yamata. How were they going to be stopped and more importantly, how many more people had to suffer if they weren't stopped soon? Whatever the answer was, it was obvious to the three people in the forest that this war against Yamata was just beginning.

* * *

The search for Asuna took Kirito all the way down to the twenty second floor in a small tranquil forest. The sky was a calm blue filled with numerous bird flocks soaring under the white majestic clouds that showed that today was going to be a sunny day. Still though, the clouds over Kirito's heart that formed due to guilt brought no cheerful emotions out of him. Right now, all he was focused on was finding the girl that he abandoned and spoke hypocritically too to apologize. He wasn't willing to let his desires to lie down and sleep get the best of him. Once he found Asuna was the time he could finally drop the serious determination and attitude needed in order to pull off a mission like this. When he found Asuna, he could finally go back to his normal self.

The Beater continued to walk with a mind full of thoughts that he failed to notice that a girl that appeared to be ten years just walked past him. If he had been focusing on walking straight ahead, he definitely would have raised an eyebrow because of the fact that the ten year old with long black hair was moping around the entire forest. Right now though, he didn't care about anything but his mission, so that trivial matter didn't need to be addressed in his eyes.

This simulation of a forest was very realistic, despite the fact that no one was paying attention to any of it. Even though there were small boar creatures to kill as well as some mischievous foxes that sometimes attacked players, most of the animals in the area were very similar to their real life counterparts that they could pass off as regular animals. It wasn't just the animals either, all the plants looked exactly like the plants you would find in forests in reality. He might be insane, but Kayaba was a very talented programmer as well…he was a true genius.

Eventually, the black hair boy stumbled upon a wooden cabin in a forest clearing besides a lake. The whole property looked nice, definitely a place he wanted to live in once he earned enough money to pay for it. The lake was also a nice place to go swimming in, and it could be used for fishing…a past time Kirito admittedly enjoyed doing despite the fact that he was born and raised as a city boy. The whole reason that Kirito wanted to move here was because he was a city boy actually. He wanted to move away from the city life and see what it was like to live in a small area in the country, or wilderness in this case.

On the dock near the lake, a girl with shoulder length coral pink hair raised her arm and signaled for the boy observing the area to come by her. Her blue eyes gave off the impression that she needed something to do, and that she was willing to do anything for it. She stood up as the boy continued to walk towards her and eventually she grabbed her sheathed sword from her side and placed it on top of her legs. When Kirito finally reached her side she casually turned her hand and waved at him before she went back to her resting position and looked at the sky. "You need to learn to be less tense, man. We'll get out of here eventually, just have to keep working hard."

Kirito took a seat besides the lax girl and sighed as he began staring at the sky as well. "It's not that, I'm just looking for someone."

"Looking for your girlfriend huh? Hope you find her."

"Wa-wait, she's not my girlfriend! How did you even know that I'm looking for a girl?!" Kirito questioned while his face turned red for a minute before regaining his composure.

"I didn't. You just told me right now," the girl answered with a bored tone. Well, she definitely knew how to lighten up a mood, which was a good thing for Kirito since he was very stressed out right now. Still though, she was a little irritable to him because of her seemingly careless attitude of not taking anything serious based on that expression. "The name's Tsukasa by the way, and before you ask, it isn't my real name."

"My name's Kirito," the boy began before he stopped to notice that Tsukasa sat up once again.

"You looking for a girl named Asuna by any chance?"

The boy looked confused after she once again guessed correctly about who he was searching for. "How did you figure that one out? I didn't say a thing this time."

"Just a hunch. Oh, and because my guild mate Baou was the one who kidnapped her. I'm a member of the dark guild, Yamata," Tsukasa nonchalantly replied as she didn't change the tone of her voice at all during that revelation. It was as if she thought it was perfectly normal to be a part of a dark guild and to be kidnappers. "To be honest though, I don't really care about the guild. I'm considering just ditching Yamata because..." The girl quickly rolled out of the way from a cross shaped blade wielded by Kirito.

"You're talking like you see no problem about being a criminal. Do you have any idea what it means to be a part of a dark guild?!" Kirito angrily questioned as he held up his sword.

"Not really. They do bad crap, but I do nothing wrong. I just let things happen. Only reason I joined the guild was because they told me that I could just relax and watch over my little brother while they did their gig," Tsukasa replied as she strapped her sheathed blade to her side. Now that Kirito had a full view, he could see that she was wearing black pants and a dark blue trench coat over a black sleeveless shirt. "I really haven't done anything wrong, so why exactly am I getting attacked?"

"Do you have any idea how much pain and suffering your guild mates have inflected to people?! Yamata is responsible for at least thirty player deaths!" Kirito furiously shouted as he continued his assault. He still couldn't connect with any of his attacks though and was continuing to show an embarrassing battle in his eyes.

Tsukasa kept up her impressive dodging maneuvering, showing how incapable Kirito was in hitting him. "I'm not responsible for any of them though. If you're attacking an innocent player, you aren't any better than them."

"Shut up! I'm not like them at all! You kidnapped Asuna, so I'm going to defeat you and get the answers out of you because I know you know where she is!" the boy yelled as he failed to stab the girl in her leg. He quickly stopped his attack for a minute to take a breather before continuing with his useless attempt at trying to inflict damage.

"Just because I know who kidnapped her doesn't mean I know where she is. You're going to have to ask Baou that if you want to know." Tsukasa yawned and covered her mouth because of the boring attacks Kirito tried to do. "By the way, that's the holy sword, Light Baptism, right? Diabel must have died then. Pity, he was cool when he was part of the group. I'm gonna miss the guy."

"You liar! Diabel would never join people like you! He was a righteous man…he died to atone for his past actions!"

"And what do you think those past actions were? He killed people when he was part of Yamata, but left after two weeks. You ready to try some new things yet?" Tsukasa asked with her still bored tone.

"Taste this! Holy Exorcist Ritual!" Kirito swung his cross sword three times, but missed them all. Finally though, the three leftover beams of light connected and created a giant light beam that nailed the girl with a direct attack.

Once the smoke cleared though, Tsukasa emerged nearly unfazed. Once she sighed, she finally unsheathed her sword to reveal a sword very similar to Light Baptism, except it was a very dark tone of black in color. As the sword began to form a black aura that resembled a dark halo, the girl looked up to the sky and quickly appeared behind Kirito and nailed him with the dark halo. "You have been sliced by Dark Penance. May your evil sins be forgiven by the strike of evil's bane."

"Damn…it…" Kirito collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious after that attack, failing to notice that Tsukasa left him alone in this forest clearing. He was no match for her at all…and more importantly, was she right? Was he really no better than the other members of Yamata since he attacked someone that had no part in their crimes despite the fact she was affiliated with them? All that he knew right now was that he failed to help Asuna in anyway.

He was truly pathetic.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter, I just wanted it done. Well, this was the start of the first Saga of the SAO arc…the Yamata arc! Yes, it's based on the eight headed snake, why? Because I can. Anyway, if you love Connection, check out my other SAO story, The Red Unicorn. Really would appreciate it. Till next chapter….**

**Oh yeah:**

**Since I love you guys, I want to show you a preview for a story project I like to call Lost. It won't be out for a long time, but when it does come out…I really hope it's my best story ever because I really love this idea (seriously, it's like my dream story). I'll reveal more info on the actual story as time goes on, but for now I'll just give you this.**

**Eight main characters with half of them being OCs: Kirito, Sinon, Jun, Eugeo, King, Niles, Levy, and Zeus…we're playing guess the characters now XD**

**(Listen to the song called Rain from FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It really fits the mood of this story so well and is the main theme of Lost.)**

"**That brat of mine was the worst possible thing that could have happened to me. I was the biggest son of a bitch before she came into my life…but now I'm just a soft loser that lets some kid dictate what he does in his life! I fight to regain the coldness in my heart that I threw away to raise that piece of shit."**

"**My eyesight's none existent. I stabbed my eyes out so that I wouldn't have to see my family's corpses ever again. I was going to stab my eyes through my brain, but I was stopped at the last second by paramedics and only got to my retinas. A dark and hollow existence was what I was forced to live, until I discovered who murdered my family. Ricky, Mom, Dad…I want to avenge them all! I fight to regain the eyesight I lost in order to redeem my family."**

"**I want her to live, but there's only one known cure and he stole the knowledge of that cure from the world. My illness is killing me slowly, but I don't care at all. To see her smile, even if it costs me my life, would be completely worth it. I fight to regain the truth that will save my friend." **


End file.
